Blind Stars of Fortune
by 100demons
Summary: Thirty year old Kakashi was supposed to have been killed by Pein during the Invasion. Instead, he wakes up in the body of his twenty year old self. (It gets a lot more complicated.) Time travel.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

* * *

"So, what'd you get us, Captain?"

Kakashi looked up from the sheaf of papers and raised an eyebrow. "You're still on medical leave, Genma," he said.

"Discharged as of forty minutes and thirty six seconds ago," Genma said, rummaging through his hip pouch and pulling out a crumpled wad of papers stamped with official looking seals. "See?"

Kakashi could smell the faint whiff of chakra that marked the hospital's seals as genuine. "You know how angry Ito was when you and Raidou faked your papers last time," he said absently as he moved away from the mission desk, flicking through the papers casually. Quick assassination in Grass of some minor lording the daimyo wanted gone, requesting it done the _usual_ way. His mouth twisted. Another quick stab and run then, with the heart and head packed along so the daimyo could parade it around the capital or hang it up on his wall or do whatever he wanted to do with the remains of a dead man. Kakashi wasn't paid to think about that.

"I don't even want to think about it," Genma chewed on his senbon fiercely, the end bobbing up and down like a leaf blown by the wind. "I still haven't recovered from the last 'medical evaluation' he gave me."

"Good. Means the lesson's sticking." Kakashi cleared his throat and tucked the papers away in a pouch, a soft curl of chakra sealing it shut. "A quick A-Rank," he said. "In and out, we've got four days."

"Shodai's balls, don't tell me it's another-" Genma cut his sentence short at Kakashi's hard look. He shrugged and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Didn't think I was getting out so early for another support mission," he muttered, senbon rising and falling with every word.

"A mission's a mission," Kakashi said, suddenly feeling very tired. "Tomorrow at 0600, we'll meet at the Northeast Alcove. Pack the usual."

"Yeah, alright. See you tomorrow morning, then, Captain." Genma slouched away, looking much more despondent. Kakashi watched the other man's back disappear behind a corner before he rubbed at his uncovered eye, the sealed papers pressing insistently at his hip. Memorial first, he decided, his eye watering a little, still irritated from the poison gas from the last mission. Obito, Rin and Sensei were waiting for him.

* * *

The stone was cool against his cheek, sharp cuts of kanji digging into his skin uncomfortably. It was a distinctly familiar sensation. "I've got another one," Kakashi said quietly. "Grass. Do you remember the courier mission we had there, delivering messages to the frontline? You tripped over a pod of carnivorous vines and Sensei lost a good chunk of hair trying to rescue you." He licked his lips and the sweaty fabric of his mask caught at his tongue. "This one makes a hundred and twenty six." A hundred and twenty six hearts he'd held in his hand and crushed, a hundred and twenty six chests he'd ripped apart with his fists.

Some days, he wondered if Obito had given this gift out of spite. Every single target still lived in his mind, trapped by the cruel accuracy of the Sharingan. When closed his eye, he could see their pale faces, close enough that he could feel a phantom breath. Those were the days he stayed away from the Memorial, too angry and bitter to be polite to the dead. But his guilt drew him back and his old, broken promise, shattered edges still sharp enough to draw blood.

"I don't think this is exactly what you had in mind when you gave up your eye," Kakashi said, tracing NOHARA RIN with a fingertip, the name weathered by wind and rain and his trembling touch. "I should go. The team's waiting for me," he said distantly. And so was Hantarou's noble head, waiting to be parted from his body with a quick stroke of his ninjato.

He unfolded his long, lanky limbs with a grimace and stood up, his ankle creaking in protest. Kakashi gave the horizon a quick glance and the clouds that hovered at the edges confirmed his ankle's suspicions. Rain in a few hours. He adjusted the weight of the pack and pulled down his mask, fastening it with a string of chakra. His shock of pale hair disappeared under a heavy black hood and Hatake Kakashi disappeared, ANBU Hound standing in his place. A quick seal and the bogeyman melted into the shadows, with only a slight breeze marking his passage.

* * *

"He's summering in a villa about ten miles from here, with his three wives and four children." Kakashi unrolled the scroll on the ground, revealing schematics for an expansive compound that housed fifty samurai guards, twenty odd servants and the Grass lordling's family. "He's expecting something, considering that he's gone and hired the Kakeru brothers, formerly of Kiri."

Raidou whistled through his teeth, impressed. "On the Bingo books for all the major five countries," he said, leaning back on his haunches. "Genjutsu and taijutsu combo, real nasty."

"That takes some serious ryou," Genma considered, looking up from the rolls of bandages he was rearranging. "Isn't he just supposed to be some minor lord or something?"

"A minor lord suspected of leading a coup in planning," Kakashi said quietly. "Grass's daimyo wants him to be made an example of."

"Well, if he's sending _us_ after him, he must really have it in for him," Raidou said sardonically but his face was serious, considering the problem before them with a critical eye. "So what's the plan, boss?"

"Tenzou, I want you to cover the the place with your seeds, subdue the samurai and the servants and keep an eye out for any back up. Worse comes to worse, I want the entire place sealed." Kakashi nodded at the silent figure sitting to his right, a huddled black-cloaked figure with a grinning Cat mask.

"Of course, Captain."

"You over-exert yourself again, don't count on me dragging your sorry ass all the way back to Konoha," Genma sniped, snapping his medkit closed and slinging it over his shoulder. "Getting as bad as the Captain about draining yourself high and dry."

"It was just once," Tenzou muttered and if it had come from anyone else Kakashi would have thought it sounded petulant.

"Chances are, they'll have the entire place under a low-level genjutsu to alert intruders. Intel says they're under heavy guard here-" Kakashi tapped a small, unassuming looking room in a northwest corner, which was conveniently located near a river and quick escape. "I can layer another genjutsu over the top before dispelling it, but it only gives us maybe ten minutes, tops. You'll have to be in position and cover the entire place before the missing nin realize that security's been compromised. Genma, Raidou, you'll be dealing with the Kakeru brothers."

"You're so good to us," Raidou said dryly and ran a hand through his short crop of brown hair. "Like New Year's come early, look at all the presents Captain's giving to us, Genma."

"Just got my ass out of the hospital," Genma moaned and his mouth twitched, as if it were chewing on an invisible senbon. "Don't wanna see Ito's ugly mug for another month at least."

"Ito-sensei probably feels the same way," Tenzou said in a quiet, unassuming voice. "Judging by the way he nearly had a heart attack over your bed last week."

"Look at that," Raidou grinned, elbowing Genma in the ribs. "Our little rookie's growing up, making fun of his senpai like that."

"Mission," Kakashi said and the cheerful mood in the air quickly deflated with the one word. He swallowed hard, Obito's eye stinging under his forehead protector. "After I deal with the mark and the secondary targets, the missing nin will be the next priority. Make sure to lead them away, out of the compound preferably."

"Yes, Captain," Genma said soberly, Raidou chiming in a beat later.

"Scorched earth," Kakashi said heavily and pulled his hood up. "When the primary objectives have been achieved, there are to be no surviving witnesses. Tenzou, you know what to do."

"By the Shodai," Raidou breathed as he tugged his Tiger mask over his face. "How much gold did the daimyo fork over for this?"

"Too much," Tenzou said hollowly as he stood up silently, a lithe black shadow. Kakashi silently agreed. WIth a twist of chakra he released the genjutsu in the clearing and signalled his team with a subtle gesture: _move out_.

Four black ghosts melted away in the gloomy forest light.

* * *

When he opened Obito's eye, everything came _alive_. Colors became stronger and the pale yellow grass around him glowed with vibrant life, soft tendrils of blue weaving through the strands. He blinked and the thin web of chakra over the beautiful country villa came into view, a dome of blue so pale that it looked almost ghostly. In the back of his head, Kakashi kept a careful eye on his chakra reserves, already dipping with every second.

The seals came automatically, chakra flooding his fingers with a familiar burn and he wove the strands carefully, gently, until he had a net that glowed in his hands, as bright as Minato-sensei's eyes. A quick breath and it drifted away from him, borne by a gentle evening breeze, before settling itself over the dome of chakra with a loving caress. Kakashi cut the thread that bound him to his creation and closed Obito's eye and the world suddenly darkened, mundane and ordinary.

Kakashi signalled at Tenzou with a twitch of his fingers and the dark wraith at his side unfurled into the sky. Six long tense minutes passed as Kakashi kept watch, Raidou and Genma waiting obediently at his side, chakra tightly leashed. They were too well trained to betray tension but Kakashi could smell it anyway, a heavy musk of fear and anticipation.

Finally, the signal came.

Tenzou's chakra flared once, twice- all clear and ready. Kakashi breathed out silently and flicked a finger at the two behind him. Time to go hunting. Genma's hand ghosted lightly over Kakashi's shoulder before he followed Raidou, his cloak fluttering in the wind.

Kakashi cautiously expanded his senses and felt Tenzou's chakra coiled up on the roof, a tiny blip. Genma and Raidou were moving through the compound easily- ah, there were the missing-nin, lounging idly by the northwest corridor. It was time.

He slithered through the grass with practiced ease, the grass swaying slightly in time with the wind. A seal and a burst of chakra and he slipped through an open window, neatly sidestepping a bound servant girl who lay collapsed on the floor, immobilized by a pale fleck of wood bound to her forehead. She looked up at him with wide, frightened eyes, the front of her dress damp with urine.

It was better for Tenzou to have one less to control. Kakashi bent down and palmed a kunai and neatly slit her throat. Strands of her dark brown hair, sticky with blood, clung to his kunai and he wiped it methodically on her sleeve. It was cut to her chin, like-

He was wasting time. Kakashi stepped into the shadows, gripping his weapon tight, and followed the map in his head. Left, right, past the courtyard and the main gardens...Chakra flared, bright and hard in the distance and he heard an enraged shout and the clang of steel on steel.

Raidou and Genma were entertaining the guests. Kakashi grunted and sped up, not bothering with the civilians littering the house like broken dolls. He'd dealt with a good quarter of them and there was the more important objective to think of.

"-FUCKIN' KONOHA-"

The back of his neck prickled. The air thickened and seemed to grow heavier, killing intent and swirling mist bound into a growing fog. For renowned silent Kiri killers, they were annoyingly loud. He clicked his tongue as he approached the northwest corridor, pockmarked with scattered kunai and shuriken and blooms of ash.

The ordinary looking rice-paper door fairly pulsed with seals; even without Obito's eye, he could see the masterful ink edging the wooden frame, protecting and guarding. A perfect prison. From a hip pouch, he pulled out a packet of seals he'd made up a few missions ago. Just a few tweaks and what would keep intruders out, would keep the Grass lord inside. He drew a finger down the middle of the seal and the paper lit up, the edges glowing a dim blue. One for every cardinal point.

Kakashi stepped back and activated the network with a hand seal. The dim hallways suddenly lit up with a flare of chakra and he stepped inside the room.

"Don't worry Chiyo-chan," the mark said soothingly, cradling a child in robes of the finest silk. "The bodyguards will take care of everything, we'll be just fine-"

Kakashi pulled away from the shadows and into the light. "Tonight, judgement has been passed upon you and your family," he said dully and opened Obito's eye.

"No- no-" Every panicked breath, every drop of sweat, every shout was burned into his sight. The mark pushed his child behind him and she stumbled towards the trembling mass of wives and wailing babies in the back of the room.

"Guards, guards-"

"It's no use," Kakashi said. _Ox, Rabbit, Monkey._ The air sang with the scream of a thousand chirping birds and the smell of sharp ozone almost covered the heavy stench of fear. The mark stepped forward, his foot rising up from the ground.

Kakashi _moved_.

The mark's foot still hovered in the air as Kakashi cradled the mark's shoulder with one arm, the other plunged into the man's chest. Blood dripped over his dark cloak and splattered his mask. He could feel it seep into his facemask.

Gently, he pulled his arm out and settled the man down on the ground. Blood pooled onto the floor and soaked the rich blue robes, fit for a daimyo.

"Lay down your tanto," Kakashi said as he unsheathed his ninjato, still crouched on the ground.

The woman standing behind him swayed on her feet, the little chakra she had spiking wildly. "You- you cannot harm- the children-"

With one swift motion, he rose from the ground and plunged it into the woman's ribs, angled just right to hit her lungs. With a choked sigh, she collapsed onto the floor, an eerie parallel to her husband. Behind her, a child started wailing.

With a deep, shuddering breath he called upon his chakra and fed it into Obito's eye with a fierce burst, weaving a thick genjutsu that settled over the women and children, giving them a final rest. The girl's cry cut off. There was nothing but silence now.

Kakashi's head started pounding and Obito's eye sucked hungrily at his chakra, feeding greedily. He wavered a little and then shook his head. In the distance, he could feel Genma and Raidou swirling and clashing and Tenzou high above them all, a watchful presence. He had to complete the mission, had to lead his team out of this bloody mess.

He knelt down on the floor and began his work.

* * *

Genma's shoulder twitched and Kakashi was well-versed enough in Genma's own, unique body language to read _What took you so long?_

Kakashi shrugged in response. The containment scrolls were safely stowed away in his pack; the daimyo would have his proof soon enough.

"What's this, another one?" one of the brothers sneered, batting away Kakashi's kunai with almost insulting ease. "Like cockroaches, the way you seem to pop up everywhere."

Kakashi twisted around and spat a fireball at the missing-nin, ducking down just in time as Raidou aimed a well-timed kick at the ninja's head. The force of the blow nearly knocked his hood back and he shot Raidou a dirty look. "Now you're just starting to _bore_ me," Kakeru said, sighing a little as he bent backwards at almost a ninety degree angle to avoid the attack. Kakashi narrowed an eye at the shadow the fireball briefly illuminated.

_Clone substitution_, he signalled towards Genma and slipped into the earth.

He reappeared a few yards behind Kakeru and his awkwardly shaped shadow, dampening down on his chakra as tightly as possible. His clone, Raidou and Genma easily worked in tandem to contain the Kakeru but from behind, it became clear how the man toyed with them, sidling away from every punch and ninjutsu like he had all the time in the world. Like his opponents just weren't fast enough to keep up with him.

Kakashi held back an irritated sigh. Like they were just a fraction too slow. He let his clone explode in a storm of lighting. Kakeru flinched as he flared his chakra and snapped the threads of genjutsu that wound irritatingly around him and his team.

The missing-nin shuddered as Kakashi's chakra washed over him and Raidou went in for the kill, his kick landing solidly on the man's chest. Genma darted around him and followed it up with a shower of senbon that riddled his torso. Kakeru's shadow shivered as it rose up from the ground and clutched his body protectively. It morphed into a slim, lithe figure, streaked with his brother's blood.

"How _dare_ you-"

Kakashi could almost see Genma's eye roll as he palmed a kunai and went for the throat. Or at least tried to. His body stiffened and the kunai dropped from his grasp; Raidou's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he collapsed onto the ground.

Well. This was proving interesting. Kakashi opened Obito's eye for the third time.

Genjutsu Kakeru laid his brother down on the ground and snarled at him. "You fucking scum, I'll make you pay for this. For my _brother_." Kakashi tilted his head and Obito's eye swirled almost lazily as he dismissed the genjutsu. His chakra levels sank even lower and he could feel the icy burn in his feet, which meant that he hadn't much left before he was going to burn through his reserves.

Kakeru was weaving his illusions with his voice- well, that was irritating. Long-range sound based genjutsu. Now it was a battle of stamina- how much longer would Kakeru try to distract him against how many more illusions Kakashi could to afford dispel with the Sharingan while trying to kill him. He didn't very much like the odds. No more ninjutsu. He was down to his ninjato, thirteen kunai, fifteen shuriken and smoke bombs he couldn't afford to use, not if he wanted to maintain visual contact.

"You're not- how did you recognize it?" Another one. Kakashi dispelled it with another burst of chakra and stalked closer towards the target, unsheathing his ninjato. A quick step and-

Damn, he was fast. Kakashi bared his teeth, blood dripping from his blade. He'd managed to scratch Kakeru's cheek. They circled each other a long moment before they clashed again, steel ringing on steel. A quick twist and Kakashi sent his last remaining kunai flying, which Kakeru easily dodged.

"I didn't think Konoha's ANBU were such disappointing fighters," he smiled cruelly, his filed teeth gleaming in the moonlight. Kakashi ignored him and surged forward, beating him back with a furious rush of strikes and right into Genma's waiting embrace.

"How did-"

Genma pulled out a kunai from his arm with a grunt and held it to Kakeru's neck. "Hound never misses," he said darkly.

Kakashi was close enough to see the throbbing artery pulse in the missing-nin's throat, a thin sheen of sweat soaking his grimy bandages. He reeled backwards a little unsteadily and closed Obito's eye, ignoring the dizzying rush of pain as the world crumpled and darkened. Chakra buzzed in his head, angry sparks of fire that burst and exploded. "Kill him," he said hoarsely.

"Glad-"

Kakeru's arm snapped out and he gripped Kakashi's wrist. Everything exploded.

* * *

"Please," Rin wept. "Please, Kakashi. You have to kill me."

Blood pooling in his hands and throbbing in his hand, that was Rin's heart, Rin's heart beating and pulsing in his hand and Obito would never forgive him, he killed her, he killed _Rin_-

Father looked up at him, dark eyes so empty and cold and Kakashi turned away, calling him a traitor, an embarrassment, a disappointment towards the village. "I hate you," he said and Father sank down on the floor, tanto deep in his stomach and blood dripping from Kakashi's hands. Dead, by Kakashi's hand. Dead, dead, he killed his _Father_-

"Promise me, Kakashi," Obito looked up at him with half a smile, the other half buried under two tons of rubble. "Promise me you'll protect Rin and the village." And Kakashi nodded and promised and then punched his clenched fist through Rin's chest with Obito's eye-

"You'll take care of Naruto, right, Kakashi-kun?" And of course, of course he would, Naruto was sensei's kid, of course he was gonna look after him. And Kakashi had nodded and promised and then thrown him away and watched the entire village hate little Naruto, watched the entire village shun and despise sensei's _son_, Kushina-san's _son_-

"You- you cannot harm- the children-" And Kakashi went and slit the throats of three women, two girl-childs, one toddler boy and a baby so fragile, smelling of powder and milk. He killed them and then sealed their cold little bodies away in scrolls so they could be hung on a stone wall and their eyes pecked out by crows.

Kakashi looked down at his bloody red hands, so bright and slippery, smelled death on his skin, oozing out of every pore. A killing machine, a tool, who'd killed all of his friends and let them die and-

A steady hand gripped his shoulder and pulled him close and Kakashi stiffened. "Come here," a voice beckoned and Kakashi obeyed unthinkingly. "Open your eyes."

He touched his face- he hadn't realized they were closed. With tentative fingers he covered his left side and opened his right. "The other one, too." A gentle hand pulled his hand away from his face and Kakashi blinked.

He was standing in front of the Memorial.

He blinked again and touched his face. No mask, no scar and no-

"Obito's eye," he breathed in sharply.

"Well, it's not exactly ours is it?" Kakashi turned sharply towards the voice and staggered back, disoriented. This was no reflection, a figure on a flat surface, his every move a copy. That was- that was him, sort-of-him. A clone. A sloppy one in a flak-vest and long hair and crows' feet.

"Yo," Hatake Kakashi said.

Kakashi formed shaky fingers into a seal and flared his chakra, searching for the tenuous link between the clone and him. There wasn't one. "Disperse," he snarled. The clone, irritatingly, didn't.

"That's kind of rude," the Other Kakashi said reprovingly, slouching and shoving his hands into his pocket.

"Is this- some kind of genjutsu-" Kakashi flared his chakra again, but he couldn't feel the confusion in his chakra flow. He pinched at the web between his thumb and finger but the Memorial stayed constant and so did the clone-not-clone.

"Well," the Other Kakashi said. "I think it started out as one."

"Kakeru," Kakashi growled, hackles rising as he remembered- _Rin_andObitoandSenseiand-

"Yes, Kakeru," the Other Kakashi said agreeably. "Well, when I thought I died, I thought I was going to see Rin and Obito and everyone. Is this supposed to be hell?"

"What?"

"Hell. Maybe it is," the Other Kakashi mused, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "I always did hate myself the most. Maybe I'm condemned to spend the rest of my afterlife with myself."

Kakashi sniffed, the scents clearer and headier without the mask and the Other smelled- rightandwrong. Like him and not him. And sad. That, at least, was familiar.

"Who are you?" he asked guardedly, shifting his weight to settle into a taijutsu stance.

"I'm you," the Other said. "I thought that was kind of obvious."

Kakashi narrowed his eyes and changed tacks. "How _old_ are you," he asked carefully.

"Ah." The Other looked vaguely uncomfortable, hunching over a bit- Kakashi looked disdainfully at all the tells the Other was projecting. "Well. I. Thirty."

Kakashi reeled. _Thirty_. "I live to be thirty?" he blurted out.

"Well, yes," the Other said. "But just barely. Sort of. I don't know. Maybe I'm the one in a genjutsu?"

"You don't sound convinced," Kakashi said and leaned back on a tree, which suddenly and conveniently appeared the minute he thought it would be nice to lean on one. He looked at it suspiciously for a moment.

"Well," the Other said embarrassedly, a faint tinge of red on his cheeks. "My last memories are of me stupidly sacrificing my life for someone else's in a great and tragic battle."

"ANBU, right?" Kakashi asked tiredly. ANBU until he died- not bad, but, he couldn't imagine another decade of assassinations without wanting to choke himself.

"No," the Other said quietly. "It's complicated, but the village is attacked and threatens the safety of one of- of my teammates. So I save him."

"Not ANBU?" Not Genma or Raidou or Tenzou...

"I quit," the Other said. "A long, long time ago."

"Quit," Kakashi echoed. Life without ANBU- he could barely imagine it. Life outside the special housing, outside of HQ, outside the constant missions and assassinations and stays in the hospital, staring at the water-damaged tiles.

"How old are _you_?" The Other asked keenly, rocking back on his heels.

"Twenty," Kakashi said.

"Ah," said the Other.

There was a long, long silence.

"Ah?" Kakashi finally prodded, unable to stand it any longer. Despite the fact that this was some cleverly constructed genjutsu, the Other was too interesting not to probe.

"I think I'd like to sit," the Other announced and settled down into a comfortable armchair. He waved a hand in front of him and a matching armchair popped into existence. "Care to join me?"

Kakashi shrugged and moved away from the tree and to the chair, deliberately ignoring how it disappeared as he moved.

"So, here's my theory," the Other said, leaning back in his chair, eyes closed. The scar was still there. Kakashi discreetly touched his own and found the jagged scar that bisected his left eye, a solid reminder of _what-had-been_. It was a quiet relief.

"I know _I'm_ real. Relatively sure, anyway. I'm in the middle of fighting Pein, or one of Pein, or well, actually it's two of him. Things go awfully, I end up being sort of killed with a nail, which is very pathetic, I bet Obito is laughing his ass off at that, and then I use Kamui to save the Akimichi boy. I'm dead out of chakra, I _know_ I'm going to die." The Other opened his eyes and his dark eyes pierce Kakashi's own.

"You, twenty year old ANBU Hound Hatake Kakashi were trapped in a nasty self-fulfilling genjutsu while emotionally compromised and mildly chakra exhausted." Kakashi stiffened.

"Me. Thirty years old, dying, dead, on the way to death. You. Twenty years old, mind extremely vulnerable."

"This doesn't make any sense," Kakashi protested, trying to wrap his mind around the frighteningly disturbed logic the Other was using. "What kind of genjutsu makes up a me that doesn't even _look_ like me and then have him talk about- I don't even know what he's talking about. Is this supposed to make me insane?"

Hatake Kakashi looked at Hatake Kakashi. "What if I told you that I developed Mangekyou enough so that I could use it to transport objects through space and time and other dimensions. And that it was the last thing I did before dying."

Kakashi instinctively touched his left eye but he found nothing but the jagged scar. "This doesn't make any sense," he said again, his voice very, very quiet.

"Like the science fiction manga Kushina-san hid under the bed," the Other agreed. "Because if we didn't know any better, we could theoretically be talking about time travel here."

"Fuck," Kakashi said sourly.

* * *

"Let's say I believe you," Kakashi said haltingly. "And that this isn't some kind of crazed figment of my imagination."

"Well, that's entirely possible. Maybe we're figments of each other's imaginations," the Other drawled.

"You talk too much," Kakashi snapped.

"And you don't talk nearly enough," the Other countered.

Kakashi shut his eyes and counted to ten and tried not to think about throttling his older, annoying future self who might also be hallucination. "Just- shut up. Let me think."

Mercifully, the Other stayed silent. "What's- it like. Being. Thirty," Kakashi said, struggling to find the right words. "After- after ANBU- after _now_."

"I quit ANBU at twenty," the Other said.

"Now?" Kakashi jerked, gripping the armrest tightly.

"Sort of. Kakeru was involved then too." The Other shrugged. "The genjutsu was nasty, I was wrung out from the mission and I'd been running a string of them because..."

"Because Obito died that month," Kakashi continued in a low voice.

"Yes," the Other said, subdued. "You know how it is." He grinned, the edges all bitter and sharp. "Nearly got the team killed and scarred our little kouhai Tenzou for life. Ended up in the hospital for weeks and by the time psych evals were over, they asked me if I wanted to do another one of_those_. I didn't. So I quit."

"Quit ANBU," Kakashi said again, tentatively prodding the concept with a cautious thought.

"I know," the Other grimaced, rubbing his face ruefully. "It was hard and awful and for a while I almost re-enlisted."

"But?" Kakashi probed.

The Other signed painedly. "Then Gai decided that I was his hip cool rival and after that." The Other shrugged.

"_Gai_," Kakashi considered. It couldn't be that strange taijutsu obsessed chuunin who cried a lot, could it? Or wept tears of manly joy, whatever.

"Yeah, that's him." the Other said.

Kakashi gave him a look.

"Yeah, well, don't judge me," the Other said, crossing his arms over his chest. "I didn't say it was the greatest experience of my life."

"That's it?" Kakashi hazarded. "You became friends with Gai and then you died?" It seemed to be a short and unfulfilling life.

"No," the Other said slowly. "I got- a pack."

"Pack's _dead_," Kakashi said and the armchair creaked as he gripped it. "They're _dead_," he said.

"New pack," the Other said gently. "Sort of. I got a genin team you know and they- they changed my life."

"But they're _dead_," Kakashi said again, desperately. He leaned forward and looked up at Hatake Kakashi, up at himself. "Rin and Obito and Sensei and Father- they're-"

"Pack grows and changes," the Other said and leaned forward, so close that they were nose to nose, breath mingling. "And I failed them."

Kakashi whimpered. "Not again," he whispered hoarsely.

"Again," the Other said and when he blinked, his eyes grew bright and watery and oh the Other was _crying_. "Dead, traitor, ignored. Threw them away like trash. Couldn't teach them right, didn't teach them, failed my _pack_."

Kakashi couldn't imagine living with more than Obito's eye and Rin's death and Sensei's scorned legacy. _More_, he considered. More pack, more failures. Ten more years worth.

"And now you're dead."

"And now I'm dead," the Other said bitterly and turned away, drawing back into himself. The false cheerfulness from earlier fell away and curled up in front of him, Kakashi saw himself, broken and shattered and so tired.

"What was it like, having- have a pack?" Kakashi asked tentatively.

"I taught Uzumaki Naruto, you know. Sensei and Kushina-san's son," Hatake Kakashi said. "Haruno Sakura, civilian girl. Uchiha Sasuke, Obito's nephew."

_My pack_, Kakashi considered. "Oh."

"They were mine, you know," Hatake Kakashi said. "_Mine_," and bared his teeth and stared straight down at twenty year old Kakashi who lived for nothing but the next mission and the ghosts that wandered around the Memorial stone. Down at pack-less Kakashi. And Kakashi, twenty year old intimidated Kakashi was struck with a crazy, reckless idea.

"Your pack and my pack," Kakashi said. "Our pack."

"I guess so," Hatake Kakashi said suspiciously, mouth thinning. "But they're also- they're also _dead_. Our pack is dead. Will be."

"But they're not now, are they," Kakashi said. "They're still alive."

"Well, yes, here with you but-"

Kakashi lunged forward and decided to take a risk. He grabbed the other man's wrist. "Do you trust me?" he asked.

"Do I trust myself?" Hatake's eyebrow quirked. "Strangely, I do."

"Promise me that you'll take care of them," Kakashi said and pressed his thumb over the other man's pulse, heartbeat thrumming. "Take care of the pack."

"I don't understand-"

"Promise me," Kakashi said fiercely, pressing down hard with his thumb. "Promise me that you'll take care of them. That you won't fail them. Not this time."

"I-" Hatake swallowed. "I promise."

"Okay," Kakashi relaxed and pulled away, loosening his grip. "You promised." Taking a deep breath, he _willed_ a tanto into being and the sudden gleam of his father's blade in his hands, whole and unbroken, cemented his choice.

Comprehension dawned on Hatake's face. "_No_-"

"This is my choice," Kakashi said. "And you promised. Don't break it."

"But _Father_, he, why are you even doing this? There's no honor or anything. I don't understand," Hatake wondered, face pale.

"Because Pack," Kakashi said simply. "Take care of them for me and Tenzou too." _And everyone else who'll become Pack._

"But-"

"Take care of them," Kakashi said.

"I will. I will, of course I will but-"

The tanto slid into belly and for some strange reason it didn't hurt. There wasn't any pain at all- just a warmth that filled him up and he gripped the handle tight, slick as though it was with his blood and moved it, left to right. "Take care of them," he panted. "Or else."

A cool hand cupped his cheek and his own dark eyes stared at him. "Thank you."

"Don't. Be." Kakashi summoned up a weak grin. "This is me being selfish after all. Second. Chance."

Hatake Kakashi pulled away. "I'll live extra long for you," he promised.

"Don't fuck it up," he muttered and closed his eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

* * *

_Safe_. The air was heavy with the smell of rain and rotting leaves, the pungent and familiar smell of Fire Country during monsoon season. Kakashi shifted a little and felt the catch of his armor rub against his skin, mud digging into his sandals. Unbound. Tentatively he drew within himself and checked his chakra levels- low, but slowly rising. And not as expansive as he could remember. Where previously there had been a deep well, the chakra reserves inside of him more resembled a pool.

The stupid kid really did manage it. He fucking _did_ it.

Kakashi cracked his eye open.

"Captain," Tenzou said, his face was near enough that it filled up his vision and far away enough that Kakashi couldn't reach out and strangle him.

Pain lanced in his head, knives of hot steel furiously stabbing at Obito's eye. He ignored it. Pain meant he was alive, meant that this wasn't some fucked up genjutsu.

"Water," he croaked and struggled to sit up, shooting Tenzou a nasty glare when he moved to support him. "Not dead," Kakashi muttered and settled for propping his back on a thick tree root, oil cloth slipping down. He grabbed at it with clumsy fingers and pulled it back up, making sure his ankle was covered. It was throbbing madly, threatening rain in a few minutes. He sniffed the air. Fifteen minutes, more like.

Kakashi accepted the canteen Tenzou silently handed him with ill grace and swished his mouth. The water was cold and delicious. His first drink of his new life. "Sitrep," he said, forcing his thick tongue to move.

"Secondary targets were eliminated a few minutes after you went down, sir. Tiger sealed their scrolls and Wolf eliminated the witnesses with a poison gas. After the objectives were accomplished, Tiger took temporary command and we returned to our secondary rendezvous point," Tenzou recited, voice muffled by the mask he still wore. The white porcelain was now grimy, splattered with dried blood and mud. "Tiger and Wolf have set up a perimeter and will return within a few minutes."

God, he'd forgotten how _young_ Tenzou was. Kakashi squinted at the small figure kneeling next to him, hands clenched on his thighs. Probably still a_rookie_, Kakashi mused. Had his voice even broken yet? There was a long pause and he abruptly realized that he was supposed to speak. "Good," he said. "The containment scrolls?"

"In your pack. Wolf also sealed the Kakeru brothers for T&I, sir."

It seemed Kakeru would bring him good fortune even in death. Kakashi smiled grimly and sipped at the canteen, watching how Tenzou discreetly turned away as he did so. Good kid, Kakashi thought fondly. _Pack_, came the unbidden thought and something in his chest tightened.

"How long was I out?" he asked, trying to shake off the feeling.

"Only about half an hour, sir." Tenzou paused and then added, a little hesitantly, "Wolf isn't very happy about that. Sir."

"I've only dragged his sorry ass around for a hundred times," Genma grumbled, dropping from a branch without a sound.

"Mama Genma was worried sick about you, Captain," Raidou added cheerfully, a large dark shadow winding his way through the tree roots. "Should've seen him fret about you, poor man."

"That was a nasty genjutsu," Genma shrugged. "Knocked you clean of your feet, Captain. I almost thought Kakeru had really got you there but of course, you're too hard-headed for that. Sir."

"It was," Kakashi agreed and privately thought that _his_ Genma, older Genma, was much more reasonable. He set the canteen down with slow, clumsy fingers. "All clear?"

"All clear," Raidou confirmed. "Wires and notes and all the necessary goodies to keep our convalescing Captain safe and happy."

It was startlingly easy to fall back into the old, familiar pattern with them. He'd never _really_ left ANBU-no one did-but it was still good to see them, alive and relatively sane and Raidou's face clear of the ugly scar. _Mission_, a voice in the back of his mind prodded, sounding suspiciously like the younger version of him.

Kakashi dredged up a little energy to rummage through a hip pouch, fishing out a summoning scroll. He bit down hard on his thumb and swiped it down the unfurling scroll with a clumsy move, blood streaking across the kanji jaggedly. A puff of smoke enveloped his face and a distinctly heavy weight settled on his lap.

"Get off me, Bull," Kakashi croaked and shoved ineffectually at the warm lump. Bull ignored him and gave him a sloppy kiss, snuffling eagerly at his fingers for treats. "Not right now," he said as gently as possible and crooked a finger at Tenzou. "Scrolls."

Tenzou disappeared into the forest and reappeared a moment later, carefully holding Kakashi's pack with two hands. He settled it down by Kakashi's legs and resumed a watchful position at his side. Kid was just as bad as Pakkun, Kakashi observed a little fondly, digging through the pack.

Four scrolls stinking of chakra and blood were shoved inelegantly into Bull's drooling mouth. "Send that over to the outpost near Grass's border, strictly for Gekkou's eyes only." Bull nudged Kakashi's hand affectionately and disappeared with a crack of burnt chakra.

"We'll move out in an hour," Kakashi said, slowly rolling up the scroll. "Get some rest while you can."

Genma opened his mouth, his face mutinous, but Raidou's hand stopped him, clamping down hard on his shoulder. "As long as I don't have to carry you again, sir," Genma shrugged nonchalantly but Kakashi could hear the undercurrent of concern.

"Don't worry," Kakashi smiled, enjoying the way Genma and Raidou's faces blanched. "You won't have to again."

* * *

_Pack._

Uzumaki Naruto.

Haurno Sakura

Uchiha Sasuke

Kakashi absently bit down on the end of the pencil, sharp canines worrying the wood. Of the three, Naruto was the easiest and the hardest. The easiest to please, his face an open book; he also, Kakashi noted dryly, had an organization made up of S-Class missing-nin dedicated to finding and killing him.

Sakura was a little harder. A civilian from a decent family. Lonely, even after she'd met Ino. Probably taught that a good civilian girl should be quiet and demure and beautiful. But she was also the smartest of all three of his students and he was reminded of Obito when he saw her, desperate to fit in and gain acceptance. A clever civilian outsider who craved approval.

Sasuke was temperamental, selfish and so very lonely, driven only by his love and hatred of his brother. Kakashi grunted as he bit into his pencil and tasted the lead filling. Collateral damage from the power plays of the village Council, the Uchiha Massacre did more than ruin Sasuke. It'd ripped his team apart.

Kakashi scowled. Too many variables, too many dangers. But he'd promised himself, promised that he would protect them and he would. No matter what.

Putting the pencil down, he picked up an ink brush at his side and a fresh sheet of rice paper. _Hatake Kakashi formally requests an audience with the Sandaime Hokage_...

* * *

Dressed in a musty old vest he'd dug out from the back of his closet and standard issue navy blue uniform, Kakashi felt much more like himself. He adjusted his mask and patted absently at a pocket- where was _Icha Icha_ when he needed it...

Ah. Of course. He'd only started reading it once he left service and Kakashi- younger Kakashi was still serving as ANBU Hound.

"Hatake-san?"

Kakashi looked up and blinked at the chuunin manning the desk. "You may enter now."

He gave the man a nod and unfolded himself from the shadows, gesturing at the hidden ANBU behind the desk discreetly: _safe watch_. The doors opened in front of him and Kakashi stepped forward into the office of the most powerful man in the country.

"Hatake-kun," Sandaime-sama said, puffing serenely at his pipe behind his desk. "It's very good to see you." How strange, to see the familiar smoke wreath the Hokage's hat and pipe at his mouth. Even stranger to think that Tsunade wasn't sitting there, bellowing orders at him and smashing sake bottles.

"Hokage-sama," Kakashi said and dropped into the standard crouch, fist over his heart in the proper salute. "I've come to beg forgiveness for my actions."

"Forgiveness?" He could hear the eyebrow raise in the Sandaime's voice. "What for?"

"I've come to tender my resignation from ANBU, effective immediately," Kakashi said, staring down at an interestingly shaped knot on the floor, ignoring the soft flutters of chakra around him. It looked a little like Pakkun's nose. No doubt word would be out of his resignation before he stepped out of the office. ANBU could be terribly nosy like that. There was a long, long silence and his ankle started muttering protests.

"I see," Sandaime finally said and Kakashi dared a quick glance up. The Hokage's brow sucked contemplatively on his pipe, brow furrowed. "How have you come to this decision, Hatake-kun?"

"I-" Kakashi paused. "I joined when Minato-sensei gave up his life to protect the village," he said quietly. "That was six years ago, Hokage-sama." Kakashi paused again and thankfully, the Hokage remained silent, knowing that Kakashi took the time to collect his thoughts. "I have come to realize that my duty now lies not to the protection of the village in service to the Corps but somewhere else."

"And what might that be?" Hokage-sama asked, tapping ashes out of his pipe. _Clink, clink, clink._

"To Sensei's legacy." Kakashi supposed he was laying it on a little too thick, reminding the Hokage that the Yondaime happened to be his teacher, but he would take every card he could get.

"Do you know what you're asking, Hatake-kun?" Sandaime-sama asked gravely, setting down his pipe and steepling his old, wrinkled fingers.

He had never been more sure in his life. "Yes," Kakashi said and dared to look up and straight at the older man's eyes. He saw old, dark black eyes that had seen more than he and his younger self put together. Two wars and the rise of a village, reigning twice, more than any Kage in the history of the Hidden Villages. Dark, impenetrable eyes that hinted at a strength that could topple mountains and gently guide a young child. He suddenly felt very, very young in the presence of those eyes.

"Yes, Hokage-sama," he repeated.

Sandaime-sama inhaled deeply and something in his eyes changed. "Then that's settled. We'll discuss the matter later in more detail, Kakashi-kun."

Kakashi didn't miss the use of his given name- the Hokage approved! He hid the joy from his face, but his chakra flickered, excited. "I am humbled by your generosity," Kakashi said and meant every word of it.

"I trust you'll stay on until a replacement for your team has been picked?"

"Already taken care of," Kakashi assured him, idly wondering what Genma would think of being promoted and with another infamous genius on his team.

* * *

"You're lying," Tenzou said flatly, not even bothering to look up from his whetstone. "Captain would never do that, not without telling us."

"I'm telling you, I heard this straight from that Nara, straight off of guard duty," Genma said, fiddling with the wrappings on his legs.

"Nara Shikato needs to learn to keep his mouth shut," Raidou said easily, lifting his chest-plate with a hand and holding it up to the light. "Cracked,_again_," he muttered, squinting at the bright fluorescent light.

"If you didn't go about charging at every enemy nin like an idiot, you wouldn't be going through so many," Genma said, ripping off tape with his teeth. "So, what do you think?"

"I think it's a sack of shit," Raidou said, letting his armor drop on the worktable with a thump. "The only person more devoted to the Corps is the Commander and we all know that Captain's next in line for that anyway. ANBU's his life."

"He's our Captain," Tenzou said, as if it explained everything. Genma had to admit, the rumor did sound outlandish and no matter if Nara had sworn up, down and sideways that it was true. This was _Hatake Kakashi_ they were talking about. Only the Commander and a few of the veterans had served longer than him. Captain quitting would be- be- it would be like the sky suddenly turning green or the Uchiha suddenly turning nice. Impossible.

The three were given a quick rap on the door before the topic of their conversation sailed into the room, scroll in hand. "Yo," he said.

"Captain," Tenzou greeted him instantly.

Genma made a face at Raidou. _Yo?_, he mouthed, senbon almost falling out of his mouth. Raidou shrugged in response, looking just as confused.

"Congratulations, Genma," Hatake Kakashi said. "You've just been promoted to Captain of Delta Squad."

This time the senbon really did fall out of his mouth.

* * *

"Dango?" Hatake Kakashi, son of the White Fang, former ANBU Hound, and student of the late Yondaime Hokage offered Uchiha Itachi a skewer.

"Thank you," Itachi said politely and took it with slight, calloused hands.

"So, I've been thinking," Kakashi said vaguely, gesturing at the surroundings with a used skewer. The slight piece of wood looked positively lethal in his hands. "Would you like to join a top secret organization of ninja dedicated to keeping the peace for Konoha and get a cool tattoo?"

Itachi chewed on his sweets, considering the offer. "This is very sudden," he said.

"Yeah," Kakashi agreed, twirling the skewer in his hands. Some of the neighboring shinobi looked at him nervously; Itachi calmly sipped at his tea. "But I figured, you know, you're young, talented and probably dying for a chance to really challenge yourself."

"Not really," Itachi said.

"Would you do it if I asked you to join only because I want to annoy my old teammates?"

Itachi seemed to briefly consider the idea, his brow puckering. "No."

"Refusing my offer as a subtle act of rebellion against your Clan elders isn't very smart," Kakashi said easily, as if they were just discussing the weather. "Tea?" he offered, picking up the smoking teapot to the side.

"I don't understand," Itachi said and he picked up his cup, accepting a refill with lowered eyes. "Why are you doing this, Hatake-san?"

"Did you know your Uncle?" Kakashi asked suddenly, propping his chin on a hand.

"No," Itachi said, seemingly undisturbed by the non-sequitur. "He passed away shortly before my time, during the Third Shinobi War."

"Uchiha Obito," Kakashi said in a quiet voice, putting the skewer down. "Was my teammate. And he asked me to protect the village, to protect the team and to help me, he gave me a gift." He tapped at his forehead protector, slanted to cover his left eye. "I need your help to protect the village, Uchiha-kun."

"But-"

For the first time during their conversation, Kakashi cut Itachi off, his voice impatient. "I know about your damned Clan politics, Itachi. And I know that things are damned complicated right now and that they're dragging you into the bloody mess, hoping you'll be able to fix it, one way or another." His voice softened and Kakashi tapped again at his forehead protector, this time on the engraved insignia. "The Clan is the Village and the Village is the Clan. Protect Konoha and protect the Uchiha, even if it means from themselves. Joining the Corps will help you, if you do it on your own terms."

Itachi gave him a long, considering look and Kakashi could almost catch a flicker of red in dark black eyes. "You are very informed," Itachi said.

"It's my job to be," Kakashi said grimly. "Things are coming to a head, Uchiha-kun. The Corps is being poisoned from the inside and there are rumors about the bitter Uchiha. Konoha will tear itself apart and it's my job to ensure that doesn't happen."

"The Corps?" Itachi asked delicately, sipping at his lukewarm tea.

"It's very much tied with Clan politics," Kakashi said. "Other than that, I can't say much." The unsaid _but if you join_ hung heavy in the air.

"My Father would be pleased with my acceptance," Itachi said, tapping idly on his tea cup. _I accept_, Kakashi heard, the soft clink of nail on porcelain resolving itself into a message.

"I'm sure he would be," Kakashi said and counted another ally on his books. He hid a feral grin under his mask. Danzou had better watch out.

* * *

"Captain?"

"Not your Captain anymore," Kakashi corrected Tenzou gently, shifting over on the bed to make room. His kunai were all sealed and packed, armor and ninjato carefully packed into a trunk with Sensei's kunai, Father's tanto and Obito's goggles. He still had to deal with the linen, the wall hangings Kushina-san had given him and...

"Is there something wrong?" Kakashi asked nonchalantly, carefully monitoring Tenzou's chakra.

"Cap- Hatake-" Tenzou made a choked sort of noise. "I don't know what you are anymore," he said, sounding wretched.

"Hatake Kakashi," he said and carefully telegraphed his move, letting Tenzou see the reassuring pat come. "And your friend."

"But you're leaving-"

"No one ever really _leaves_ ANBU," Kakashi said and awkwardly rubbed Tenzou's shoulder. By the Shodai, he'd forgotten how young Tenzou was. Fifteen, sixteen? Uncomfortable in his own skin and wary of the world; he'd forgotten how skittish Tenzou had been when he was younger. How Orochimaru had carved uncertainty and fear into his heart and then abandoned him to an unknown world.

"I'll still be around," he promised, entertaining thoughts of murdering Orochimaru in the back of his head. "I'm just moving down to the apartment complex a few blocks over, you know, in the subsidized housing area in the Bunkyo ward. You're welcome to visit any time you'd like," he said.

"Thank you," Tenzou said awkwardly, shoulders hunched. "Ha- Hatake-san."

"Senpai," Kakashi corrected. "You're still my kouhai, aren't you, rookie?"

"Of course, Kakashi-senpai." Tenzou gave him a watery smile and Kakashi was struck by an idea.

"Tenzou," he said quietly. "Have you noticed them?" The boy's chakra flickered. "So you have, then," Kakashi said, more than a little proud.

"They...they remind me of some of the others...the others that _He_ worked on," Tenzou said in a very quiet voice, face as white as a ghost.

"Yes," Kakashi said grimly. "They do seem strange, don't they? Always conveniently there to replace a fallen member, and each one of them has been nominated by Shimura Danzou for acceptance into the service."

Tenzou's face, if at all possible, whitened even more. "You don't mean-?"

"ANBU is changing," Kakashi said. "And not for the better. Keep an eye out for me, Tenzou."

"Of course, sir," Tenzou said obediently. "Kakashi-senpai," he added a beat later and Kakashi was tempted to ruffle the boy's hair. _Pack_, the voice in the back of his mind whispered. _Protect the pack_.

* * *

"...ANBU guards will be assigned to watch him during your absences. I trust you've drawn up the appropriate seals for the apartment?"

Kakashi withdrew a packet from his flak vest and handed it over to the Hokage. "It's not the best I can do, but given the time frame and materials, I could only come up with so much," he said apologetically, beating back the urge to kick the floor like some genin. "I'll do much better with more time and a better sense of Uzumaki," he added hastily, watching the Hokage's bushy brows slowly rise towards his receding hairline.

"This is very impressive work," the Sandaime said, fingers tracing the kanji with an expert touch.

"It's adequate," Kakashi shrugged. Now if _really_ had the time and chakra-blood ink and some of Minato-sensei's books, he could do proper justice to those security seals. He had one in mind that would cauterize shut the chakra coils of any intruders and another interesting one that electrocuted at a wrong touch.

"More than adequate," the Hokage said and handed the packet pack to Kakashi. "The funds will be wired to your account on a monthly basis and you are given a two month leave from the active duty roster to adjust to your new role." Kakashi nodded, expecting as much.

"Anything else, Hokage-sama?"

"This is very sudden of you, Kakashi-kun," the Hokage said, folding his hands together and settling them in his lap.

Kakashi blinked. "Sir?"

"You've served me very well as a shinobi, Kakashi-kun, as a jounin of Konoha and as an ANBU operative. But never before now have you showed any interest in Naruto-kun."

Kakashi's chest tightened as he considered his options. Twenty year old Kakashi was perfectly happy to ignore the face of his dead sensei come back to life, throwing himself into every available mission. No wonder that the Hokage thought his actions strange; they _were_, for his younger self. He could lie, make up a tale about how he'd befriended Naruto; mutter something about forgiveness and remembering the past.

Or he could tell the truth. "Minato-sensei was pack," Kakashi said. "After- after Father passed, he became..." He searched for the right words to explain how Minato had kept Kakashi alive, had taken him in and gave him a purpose. "Family," he considered, but that wasn't quite right too, it didn't explain how Minato-sensei had taught him how to kill a man in order to protect the village, in order to protect himself. It didn't explain how Minato-sensei had _chosen_ Kakashi and how Kakashi had chosen him.

Sandaime-sama knew where this was heading; Kakashi could smell the grief on him, fresh as it was six years ago in the wake of Kyuubi's attack. "Minato-sensei was gone and that meant everyone was gone." Everyone in his pack, dead and Kakashi had nothing to live, no pack to protect and live for. "I was selfish and I didn't want to think about Naruto, about Sensei's son. I couldn't bear to look at him and see everyone I'd lost," Kakashi said in a low voice, shame trickling through. "I joined ANBU and for six very long years, I did the best I could. To forget. To protect the village, like sensei and Obito wanted me to."

Sandaime-sama nodded. "I understand, Kakashi-kun," he said quietly.

Kakashi shook his head- there was more to tell and it was strangely relieving to hear it aloud, to have the Hokage listen and understand. "The last mission was...difficult," he said. "I was very tired and emotionally compromised. I should have refused the mission, if only for the safety for my team, but I went and tried to complete it, only to be caught in a genjutsu. It was careless of me." He looked down at his gloved hands, unable to bear looking at the Hokage. "It was a very good one," he said blankly. "The more experienced the shinobi, the better the illusion. It brought all the worst fear and terrors out of the mind and made them real. It was only due to the skill of my team that I woke up with my mind intact."

Kakashi rubbed at the armored plate on his glove absently. "I saw Naruto in there, abandoned and alone. Minato-sensei was pack and Naruto is his son. Naruto's _pack_," he said. "I have a duty to him."

"He would be very proud of you," the Hokage said quietly.

Kakashi, for all that he was thirty years old and a hardened jounin, clung to words like a child clung to a blanket. "Thank you, sir," he said, voice thickening only slightly.

"You may find it a duty to his father, but my hope is that you will grow to care for him on his own merits," the Hokage continued, dark eyes piercing.

Kakashi smiled for the first time since he entered the sealed room. "Oh, I don't doubt that, Hokage-sama," he assured him and made a note to stop by Ichiraku later tonight.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

* * *

"_He's_ in there," the matron said, jerking her head towards the closet. "Knows he's in trouble so he's gone and disappeared himself, quick-like."

"Frogs in the beds," Kakashi guessed, judging by the high pitched screaming from the next room over.

"Snakes and spiders," the matron sighed and wiped her hands on her apron. "Uzumaki Naruto," she said sternly, her voice rising. "There's someone here to meet you. Get out of the closet, quickly!"

"Dun wanna!"

"Uzumaki, if you don't get out in five seconds-"

Kakashi laid a hand on her arm and smiled at her. "I'll handle this, Hori-san," he said pleasantly and made his casual way towards the door, hands shoved into his pockets.

"He's a stubborn brat," the matron warned him, her dark eyes looking at him beadily. "Bad enough that he's the damned-"

Kakashi's pleasant smile turned a shade harder. "I believe that's enough," he said quietly and the air in the room suddenly became much, much heavier. "You may leave now."

The matron swallowed and gripped at her pink apron, knuckles whitening. "Of course, Hatake-san," she said stiffly and swept out of the room without a second glance.

Kakashi leaned against the closet door and watched her go with a wary eye, making sure that her chakra signature moved _away_ from the room. "You can come out now," he said after a long moment. "She's gone away to deal with your prank."

The door opened a crack and Kakashi obliged, moving out of the way. He crouched down and caught the tiniest sliver of a blue eye looking up at him. _Naruto_. For a long moment, his heart caught in his throat and he couldn't think of anything to say. _I'm sorry sorry I failed you and the pack sorry sorry sorry_. He cleared his throat instead.

"Who're you?" the boy behind the door asked rudely, blue eye keen.

"Hatake Kakashi," Kakashi said automatically and a small part of him was bemused at how high pitched and squeaky Naruto's voice was. It was familiar, in a way Naruto at sixteen wasn't; he'd missed seeing his student grow and change, and when he'd come back in black and orange, his deepened voice had been a bit of an unpleasant shock.

"That's a weird name," Naruto said suspiciously.

"So's Naruto," Kakashi countered, rocking back on his heels.

"Is not! Naruto's the coolest name in the village," Naruto said fiercely and in his excitement pushed open the door, nearly clipping Kakashi's nose. "Uzumaki Naruto," he boasted, jabbing a thumb at his skinny chest. "Number one prankster!"

"Snakes and spiders, hmm? Anyone can do that," Kakashi said and narrowly missed an enthusiastic flailing arm in his eye for it.

"Jiro couldn't and he was the one who dared me cause he's a dumb sissy," Naruto said enthusiastically, hopping up and down in his dirty and bedraggled sandals. "But I did and it's the greatest bestest prank ever, so there!"

"I bet you could do better," Kakashi said and without even realizing it, reached out and ruffled Naruto's hair. The boy squawked and beat at his arm with his tiny hands and Kakashi felt something soft and warm settle in the bottom of his chest.

"What're you being so nice to me for anyhow?" Naruto said after recovering from the hair ruffling attack, looking up with vaguely suspicious eyes. "Big people're never nice to me."

In the back of Kakashi's head, he quietly resolved to find every person who'd been cruel to his student and kill them slowly. "Well," he said, scratching the back of his head casually. "I'm not a very nice person."

"So you ain't being nice?" Naruto scrunched up his nose. "You're so weird."

"Yeah," Kakashi agreed. "What do you say we go have some ramen?"

Naruto looked up at him, mouth wide open. It was possible that stars began to glow in his eyes. "_Ramen_," he whispered up at the older man reverently. "We're gonna eat ramen?"

"Well, if you want to," Kakashi said, looking faintly worried.

Naruto launched himself at Kakashi's legs and nearly bowled him over. "Yatta!" he cheered. "Ramen, ramen, ramen!"

Kakashi's hand hovered hesitantly over Naruto's back before it settled down on a bony shoulder, patting it gently, if a little awkwardly. "There's this ramen stand on Main St. that I'll think you'll like, Naruto-kun. It's called Ichiraku and..."

* * *

"Don't just stand there like an idiot," Kakashi said, tilting his head curiously.

"C- Kakashi-senpai!" Tenzou said and he rocked a little nervously on his feet, which for him was very nearly the equivalent of him clutching his chest dramatically. "I didn't realize you were standing behind me."

"Well, you were looking so intently at the door." Kakashi shrugged and a bag of groceries swung gently in his hand. "Would you like to come in?"

Tenzou gave him a small smile. "I'd like that, senpai," he said quietly. He stepped back from the apartment door as Kakashi casually flicked through a series of hand seals, the doorjamb glowing a dull blue for a brief moment before fading back to a normal brown.

"A-rank security seals, senpai," Tenzou noted, his dark eyes keen.

"I have important things that I'd like to keep an eye on," Kakashi said and opened the door. Within seconds, his important thing collided violently with his knees, a blur of yellow and orange and brown fur.

"KAKASHI-NII-SAN," Naruto bellowed and Ryou added to the chaos with his own happy yips. "YOU'RE HOME!"

"Hello, Naruto-kun," Kakashi said mildly and bent down, patting Naruto's spiky hair. The bag of groceries hit the floor with a clunk and Ryou's ears picked up. _Food_, he barked excitedly and dashed over to the bag.

"Hey, hey," Kakashi protested as Ryou dug through the bag with his large black nose. "Ryou, no, that's going to be our dinner." Tenzou rescued their food with a deft hand, winding his way around Ryou's wriggling body with an ease that came with long experience.

"Hello, Ryou-chan," Tenzou greeted the dog warmly, scratching at his tattered ears. "It's been awhile, hasn't it?" Ryou agreed enthusiastically, drooling spectacularly all over his kouhai's face. You would hardly think that he was a ferocious hundred pound ninken if you looked at him now, wriggling about like an overgrown puppy.

"Hey, hey, nii-san, who's this?" Naruto regarded Tenzou with curiosity, twisting around Kakashi's legs to peer up at the stranger with wide eyes. "He's a ninja!" he shouted, catching Tenzou's forehead protector. "Like you, Kakashi-nii-san!"

Tenzou's eyes widened a fraction and he gave Kakashi a _look_. Kakashi smiled back at him, his eye curving cheerfully. "Naruto-kun, this is Tenzou. He's a friend of mine."

Interest piqued, Naruto sidled up to the older boy, hands clasped behind his back. "You're Kakashi-nii-san's friend?" he asked seriously.

"He's my senpai," Tenzou just as gravely and bent down a little, bracing his hands on his thighs.

"A senpai? Whassa senpai?"

"Like a friend," Tenzou considered, his eyes thoughtful. "But also like an older brother, too. Someone's who's more experienced and older than you at school or at work."

"Huh," Naruto said and then tugged expectantly on Tenzou's pants. "Come on, I'll show you the cool shuriken nii-san bought me! They're super sharp so's we have to extra extra careful but Kakashi-nii said we could train with them and then next year I'm going to go to the Academy and become a ninja like you and nii-san..."

Kakashi watched with a quiet amusement as Naruto dragged a rather overwhelmed Tenzou to his room, Ryou following the two obediently, tail wagging. _Protect them_, the voice in the back of head whispered. _You promised_.

He thought this was a good start.

* * *

"He's..." Tenzou groped for the right words, cupping his mug of tea.

Kakashi nodded in agreement. "He's Naruto," he said simply and sipped at his tea.

"He reminds me of Uzumaki-san," Tenzou said, absently rubbing the rim of his cup. "She was very kind to me when- when Yondaime-sama brought me to the hospital."

It was hard to describe Kushina-san. Bright and angry and so strong. She'd bought him ramen and read him _The Tale of The Gutsy Ninja_ during hospital stays; she was the one who had taught him his first seal, a simple protective symbol that could be carved into wood. And so very much like her son, Uzumaki Naruto. "Naruto reminds me of her," Tenzou said wistfully. "When he smiles..." Tenzou's eyes sharpened and he looked up at Kakashi, eyes missing nothing.

"You left for him." It wasn't a question.

Kakashi let the silence speak for him.

Tenzou breathed out slowly and then smiled, hiding it behind a quick sip of tea. "It's good to see you of the armor," he said.

"How's Genma doing?" Kakashi asked lazily, accepting Tenzou's tacit approval.

"Terribly well," Tenzou grinned and Kakashi could see traces of Yamato's demon face in his eyes; the rookie was growing up. "He hates it of course, complaining about the paperwork and the responsibility, but he's doing well."

Genma was already mothering the team as it was; the position just gave him a little more authority to do so. Kakashi was silently grateful that he didn't have to listen to Genma nag about chakra exhaustion at him. "And the rookie?"

"Bugs in his locker, mud on his armor and fake exploding tags on his kunai," Tenzou said proudly, looking very glad to lose rookie status after a good eight months of ribbing from the other members of Delta Squad.

"I bet he's enjoying that," Kakashi said dryly.

"He set this genjutsu on Raidou-san when we were at the mess hall, made him think he was talking to Kyoko-san," Tenzou said, eyes bright. The tea sloshed a little in his cup as he leaned back in his chair in satisfaction. "He was flirting with a salt shaker, the entire time."

Clever, clever Itachi. "He's a good boy," Kakashi said. "Even if he did beat my record."

"He's not as good as you, of course," Tenzou said loyally. "Though he's very good on the field." That was high praise from a boy who could raise grow a forest within minutes and kill a man with a twig.

"He's very polite, very helpful," Kakashi said and set his tea down, casually checking Naruto's chakra to make sure he was asleep. "A good person to have by your side."

"Oh?" Tenzou replied lightly but his interested face betrayed him. "I'd noticed that you were the one to nominate him for service."

"Well, I couldn't let someone else come and lead him astray, could I? He needed a challenge and I gave him one." _Before Root came along and Danzou manipulated him like a pawn._

"Itachi'd been talking about a new dango place that opened in Sumiya," Tenzou said thoughtfully. "Lunch there might be interesting."

"Yes, I would think so," Kakashi agreed. "Everything else going smoothly?"

"Commander called a mandatory meeting yesterday."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest. "Oh?" he said mildly.

"Councilman Danzou was with him," Tenzou said. "They wanted to speak about the difficult times and how the village could only be as strong as the shadows that protected it. Typical morale boosting, though Commander didn't look very happy to be there."

"And right after I've left," Kakashi said, leaning on the back two legs of his chair. "So inconsiderate of the man."

"You and Commander are the only ones he's ever really been scared of," Tenzou said, looking intently at the wooden table separating the two. "And now that you've left, Commander's tied up with Council politics."

"How many new members?"

"Four."

Kakashi hummed, noncommittal. Altogether (judging by the personnel files Kakashi had discreetly looked through after his visit to the Hokage. He couldn't help it if the secret records room was so poorly secured. It was practically begging to be opened.) that made about a fifth of ANBU, with ten operatives and who knew how many more Danzou had smuggled in even more discreetly and was in the process of training?

"And me only gone a week," Kakashi said. No doubt Danzou was quickly capitalizing on his absence, though he wondered what the spies were thinking of Kakashi's sudden domestic turn. Probably nothing good.

"Well, I didn't want to do this," Kakashi sighed, pained, and picked up his now tepid cup of tea, knocking it back down in one quick swallow. "But Danzou's just asking for it, isn't he?"

Tenzou looked like a rabid wolf had just cornered him. "I'm very, very glad that I'm not Councilman Danzou right now."

"Yes, that's probably a good thing," Kakashi said, nodding serenely. "Otherwise, I would have to cut your stomach and choke you with your own intestines."

Tenzou choked on his tea.

* * *

"Math is _stupid_," Naruto said, flinging himself dramatically onto the couch and knocking Kakashi's brand new copy of _Icha Icha Paradise_ onto the floor.

"I was reading that," Kakashi said mildly. "How was school today?"

"_Boooooring_," Naruto said, stretching out the word with feeling. "I wanna go to the Academy and learn cool jutsu and stuff, not the stupid boring school with _math_."

"How're you going to know how many kunai you have left if you don't know math?" Kakashi asked, picking up his book from the floor, reflexively checking that Naruto hadn't seen the erotic illustration of Keiko on page sixty nine.

"Whatever," Naruto said dismissively and wiggled over to Kakashi's lap, planting his bony elbows on the older man's thighs, not catching the way the silver-haired man stiffened. "All we do is sit down and it's stupid, I hate it," he said.

"Ah," Kakashi said and mentally referred to _Raising Children: A Shinobi's Guide to Rearing, Ages 6-12. _"Why is it stupid?" he asked delicately, wondering if there was a way to hammer the idea of PERSONAL SPACE into a child's head without sharp, pointy objects. His own father had rarely touched him and Kakashi had become a genin at age five and thrown into war, where the only time he touched someone was to kill them. He'd often had to remind himself that ruffling hair and hugs were a way express affection, instead of a tool to purposely annoy his students.

Naruto muttered something inaudible.

Kakashi gently patted Naruto's head. "Is it Keigo again?"

Naruto looked up at him with watery blue eyes and snot trickling out of his grubby nose. "He says Ima demon monster and tha' I'm worse than dirt and and and-" He buried his face into Kakashi's flak vest and started crying great heaving sobs.

First, Kakashi thought distantly, I'm going to hunt down Keigo's parents and put them under the most painful genjutsu I can think of and then cut off all the limbs in front of their son. Then I'm going to-

"Am I" Naruto wailed, hands clutching Kakashi's shirtsleeve. "I dun wanna be a monster, Kakashi-nii, I'm not a monster, I dun wanna, I- I-"

"You're not a monster," Kakashi said firmly and rubbed Naruto's back in rough circles. "You're a six year old boy who likes ramen and pranking too much to be a monster. Keigo's wrong, Naruto-kun. He's _wrong_.

"Bu' why does everyone hate me?" Naruto sniffled, dribbling snot and tears and saliva all over his vest. Kakashi supposed that it was better than blood.

"That, I can't tell you," Kakashi said after a long silence. "It's very complicated and it's something I can only tell you when you're much older. But, I_can_ tell you that not everyone hates you. What about me? And Sandaime-sama? And Tenzou? And Ryou?"

"Really? You don't- you don't hate me?" Naruto said hopefully and scrambled upright in his lap, craning his neck up to meet Kakashi's eyes.

"I could never hate you," Kakashi said quietly and gently wiped Naruto's nose with the end of his sleeve.

"I don't hate you neither," Naruto said a little shyly and launched himself at Kakashi's neck, squeezing tight.

If Obito's eyes started secreting tears, well, Kakashi figured it was the Sharingan acting up again, chakra coils irritated. He ignored the fact that his other eye, his normal one, was tearing up as well. Just dust. Chakra irritation. His arms closed around Naruto's tiny body and held him tight.

* * *

"Hey Forehead, what're you reading? Some dumb book again, huh? Gonna be a ninja, dumb Forehead girl like you?"

Dust rose up in her eyes and Sakura blinked furiously, trying to hide behind the large book she'd borrowed from the library.

"Look, she's trying to hide her big ugly face behind the book. Too bad it's too small to cover it!"

Sakura shrank even more and desperately wished that the ground would open and swallow her; she'd read about some jutsu that could do that but she didn't know the hand seals or have the chakra. She was just some dumb civilian girl with a big ugly face. Even when she scrunched her eyes tight, the tears came.

"Look, look! The dumb girl's crying, look at her stupid crying face."

More dust came flying at her and little pebbles and sticks, some thrown hard enough to scrape her cheeks.

"You can't hide from us, Ugly Forehead-"

"You big dumb bully!"

Sakura peeked up from behind her book and saw a small blond whirlwind rocket into Ami's face, fists flying furiously. "You shut up about her!" Ami staggered back, blood spurting from her nose, knocking Miko and Kyoko right onto the ground.

"My knee!" Miko screeched, clutching piteously at the tiny scrape on her leg.

_Good_, Sakura thought viciously and lowered her book even more.

"You stupid demon monster!" Ami shrieked, clutching her nose. "I'm going to tell papa and he's going to hurt you so bad!"

"Nyah nyah nyah!" The blond boy sneered, sticking his tongue out and stuffing his thumbs in his ears. Sakura stifled a giggle. "Tattletale, tattletale, run away tattletale," he chanted, hopping from one foot to another. Ami gave him one murderous look before stomping away, Miko and Kyoko quick to jump up and follow obediently at her heels.

"You ok?" Her blond hero scratched his head sheepishly and up close, Sakura could see that it was Uzumaki Naruto, class clown and troublemaker from school. He always played by himself and made stupid fart jokes and none of the girls liked him, 'specially stupid Ami. But he _had_ called Ami dumb and punched her nose, saving Sakura. She put down her book and swallowed nervously.

"Thank you," she muttered and patted her bangs down over her forehead.

"Hey, hey, I'm Naruto, wha's your name?"

"Sakura," she said shyly and stood up, wiping the dust off her face with a grubby sleeve. "We're in class together at school," she added in a quiet voice.

"Eh?" Naruto squinted at her and leaned in, whiskers all scrunched up. "We are?"

"Yeah," Sakura nodded. "You got in trouble today for punching Keigo, remember?"

"Kakashi-nii said if I had a reason then I can punch anyone all the time ever!" Naruto said defiantly, hands at his hips, chest puffed out.

"Really?"

Naruto deflated. "I think so?" He scratched his head. "Kakashi-nii used lotsa long words and stuff but he def'nitely said I could punch him."

"My Mama doesn't like it when I get dirty and fight," Sakura offered and poked at her dirty dress a little sadly.

"But getting dirty and punching is the bestest ever!" Naruto said, hopping up and down on his feet. "Hey, hey, hey, you wanna play with me? We have a ninken back home and lotsa cool books and Kakashi-nii got me shuriken and stuff so's I can train and become the Hokage!"

"Ninken?" Sakura asked, her ears pricking up. "Isn't that like a ninja dog?"

"Yup," Naruto grinned and jammed his hands in his pockets. "Wanna come?"

Sakura considered the boy in front of her, grubby with dirt all over his face and a big open grin and blood on his knuckles. "Okay," she said and gave him a small smile.

* * *

"This is very sudden," Sandaime-sama said, his face unreadable.

Kakashi shrugged. "It is my right, Hokage-sama," he said simply, standing easily in front of the most powerful man in the Five Shinobi Nations without batting a lash.

"Of course," Sandaime-sama said slowly. "But there hasn't been one in over fifteen years, Kakashi-kun."

"Well, then I guess it's about time that I've gotten around to the duty, right?" Kakashi asked vaguely, surreptitiously flicking through the pages of_Icha Icha_ in his hand.

"Are you sure? This will be quite a surprise to many of the Council members."

"Good to keep people on their toes," Kakashi said, eye curving up.

Sandaime-sama smiled, the craggy lines of his face shifting subtly. "Oh, I think I'll very much enjoy having you around, Kakashi-kun."

* * *

The seat in between the Uchiha and Hyuuga had lain empty for over fifteen years, a constant reminder of the consequences of one misstep. Over the years, members of the Council came and went but the seat stayed empty, the clan reduced to a member of one who refused the title of head. There were discreet running bets on when the chair would disappear and judging by the one ninja left in the clan, Fugaku figured it was only a matter of time before the chair would be replaced by one of the other clans competing for a seat on the Council.

Needless to say, it was a surprise when a cloud of smoke suddenly swirled around the Hatake chair next to him and a body puffed into existence. Fugaku had a kunai at the intruder's throat and Sharingan activated before he realized that he was looking at Hatake Kakashi's masked face.

"Yo," the boy said cheerfully, ignoring the blade at his jugular. "Sorry I'm late, I had to help an old lady cross the street."

Fugaku lowered his arm robotically and sheathed his weapon. Every single Clan head at the table stared at the suddenly occupied chair.

"Ah," Sandaime-sama said calmly. "Hello, Hatake-dono."

"Hokage-sama," Hatake Kakashi greeted. "Uchiha-dono," he said, inclining his head at Fugaku. "Great reflexes," he said happily.

"Hatake Kakashi," Fugaku said dully and he could see Hiashi, the bastard, grip his armrests, knuckles whitening.

"What're you doing here, whelp?" Tsume snarled from across the table. The Inuzuka always had a touchy relationship with the Hatake, feeling that the Hatake infringed upon their territory and abilities. His father had told him this over dinner a long, long time ago, when Hatake Sakumo sat on Council meetings but it had become irrelevant when Fugaku had taken the seat, Sakumo long gone and Kakashi too young. It seemed that would no longer be the case.

"Well," Hatake drawled, arranging himself bonelessly in the uncomfortable hardwood chair. "What do you think I'm here for?"

"You've had the right to attend Council meetings and take upon the duties of Clan Head since you were fifteen, but you've never chosen to exercise it before," Shikaku said from his seat near the Hokage at the head of the table, dark eyes curious.

"_Well_, now that it's declassified, I can safely say that I was serving ANBU at the time and could not properly carry out my duties," Kakashi said, looking supremely bored. Fugaku could see a hint of orange peeking out from the jounin's vest pocket.

"You have no clan to speak of," Aburame spoke quietly from his seat, glasses reflecting the fluorescent light. "You are Head of nothing, leader of a family long gone."

"Now, that is very rude," Kakashi said reprovingly, hands laced together on the table. "I'll have you know I've recently adopted a ward."

Danzou, the power-grabbing warmonger, finally spoke up, Fugaku noted with ill-hidden distaste. "You have managed to gain custody of the Nine Tails," the old frog croaked. "He is a weapon, not some orphan you can pick off the streets."

Fugaku could see degrees of shock flicker across every face in the room, with the exception of the Hokage and Hatake himself. _Interesting_, he mused and filed the thought away for further consideration.

"Well, for a supposed weapon, he's been treated like shit," Hatake said, leaning his head back on the chair. "The Yondaime would have wanted the Village to protect and care for him, as the hero he rightly is."

"What would you know of the Yondaime's wishes?" Tsume snarled, claws tapping on the table scored with kunai and years of ink-marks.

"Hatake was the former student of Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage," Fugaku interrupted and played his first card. "Inuzuka-dono." Tsume bared her canines at him.

"The Nine Tails has been present in the Village since the Shodai's time," Shikaku put in lazily. "A weapon that all the other hidden villages have feared. The only difference is that now the entire village knows about it, instead of just the Council. The Yondaime gave us our greatest gift back to us with the cost of his life."

"It's only right we should take care of him and treat him not only as a weapon but as the child he is," Kakashi said. "He's six." The air in the room grew noticeably chillier and Fugaku squashed the urge to flinch. By the Shodai, the bratling beside him was _strong_.

"He is a threat to the village," Danzou said, thumping his cane on the floor. "Either he should be eliminated or trained into the tool that he is."

"Shinobi may be tools," Akimichi Chouza rumbled from his seat, "but in Konoha we treat our people with pride and respect. The boy is a _child_ and a gift from the Yondaime, as Shikaku-dono says." Akimichi nodded his head at the Nara. Fugaku's lip curled. Here was the infamous Ino-Shika-Cho alliance coming into play. "I accept Hatake Kakashi's custody of the child."

It seemed that the boy had the trio on his side and was deliberately antagonizing Danzou. Fugaku considered the cards in his hands. Already, power was shifting in this room, all around this strange little boy. The enemy of my enemy is my friend and Fugaku certainly despised Danzou enough to consider him an enemy, always sidelining the power of the Uchiha and restricting their movements. He decided to go all in.

"I move to accept Hatake Kakashi as Head of the Hatake Clan and a formal member of the Council," he announced and quietly reveled in the sharp intakes of breath he could hear.

"Motion recognized," Sandaime-sama spoke for the first time, puffing away at his pipe. "Any seconding motions?"

Nara raised his head. "I second." Yamanaka and Akimichi nodded their heads as well, quietly muttering their assent. Next to Hatake, Hiashi tilted his head. "I also second this motion." It was done- five Clan Heads had accepted Hatake's brat as well as the Hokage himself.

With a keen eye, Fugaku realized that this was what the Hokage had planned from the start; already the alliances in the clan were shifting, the old ways gone and shattered to pieces when Kakashi had appeared into the room with a cheerful smile. _Clever_, Fugaku allowed and cast a sidelong glance at Danzou.

The old coot looked immeasurably displeased. Fugaku hid a smile. This would prove to be a very interesting month.

* * *

Kakashi leaned casually against the table as everyone filtered out of the room, meeting dismissed. "Sure pissed off the Councilman there," he commented idly.

Fugaku, poor old stick, looked at him murderously. "The Councilman and I are not on the best of terms," he said stiffly.

"Yeah, me neither," Kakashi agreed and crossed his arms across his chest. "Still gunning for the top, isn't he?"

"I wouldn't know," Fugaku sneered and pushed his chair in.

"Know what I think?" Kakashi leaned in closer confidingly. "I think he totally has it in for you. Terrified of what you might do to him."

Without realizing it, Fugaku came closer as well. Kakashi hid a grin behind his mask. _Hook, line and sinker_. "With power, comes respect and fear. It's only right that he feels such towards the Uchiha."

"Above all else, Danzou values loyalty," Kakashi said cryptically, shrugging his shoulders. "Loyalty to _his_ Konoha."

"The Uchiha are sworn to serve the Hokage and the Village through an age-old alliance," Fugaku said, red flickering in his eyes. "We are _loyal_."

"Oh, I'm sure you are," Kakashi assured him without much feeling. "After all, the village is the clan and the clan is the village. The Uchiha would only hurt themselves by going against Konoha."

"Of course," Fugaku said, looking a little off-kilter.

"Anyway, I wanted to thank you for what you did," Kakashi continued, his eye curving. "You didn't have to support me in my bid."

"It was for the benefit of the Council," Fugaku said, his voice hard.

"I appreciate it all the same, as does the Hokage," Kakashi lied smoothly. "He knows what you're trying to do, protecting the village and Naruto and all."

"Naruto?"

"You know, _him_. My ward." Kakashi brightened. "Say, would you like to visit him? You have a son around his age, don't you?"

"I- yes." Fugaku blinked. "His name's Sasuke." His face warmed a little and his lips curled up a fraction. "He'll be attending the Academy next year," he said proudly.

Kakashi was a little astonished to see that the other man had some sort of heart. "Great!" he said cheerily, recovering quickly. "I'm sure they'd love to meet. How does next Sunday sound? Your place? Dinner?"

"What?" Fugaku blinked again.

"Great!" Kakashi made a hand seal and let chakra surge around him, enveloping him in a familiar embrace. "I'll see you then, Fugaku-sama."

* * *

Kakashi slouched, hands shoved tightly in his pocket. He'd forgotten how _exhausting_ it was to talk to people and pretend like he'd enjoyed it. He very much prefered hand signals and a threatening sharp pointy object in his hand. Clan Head. He rolled the idea around in his head, considering.

He'd never taken up the job _before_ because, well, it had been his Father's job. And when he died, there was no point, not when the Hatake name was smeared with the blood of the Third Shinobi War. But now...for Naruto...for his _pack_...

There were _two_ chakra presences inside the apartment. Kakashi instinctively palmed a kunai and pressed a palm against the seal, flooding it with chakra. They were undisturbed; Naruto had used the key and put his hand on the unlocking seal normally. His chakra was fine- no sense of turmoil or anxiety. In fact, it looked _excited_. With a frown, Kakashi probed the two tiny flames in the house. The other presence was familiar, the signature like an old favorite shirt he'd lost but found again, hiding in some hidden corner of his drawer.

The chakra spiked again and Kakashi's heart caught in throat. _Sakura_. Hesitantly, he put his kunai away and unlocked the door, chest tight.

"Naruto?" he called out, hoping that the boy didn't catch the way his voice trembled. "I'm home-"

"KAKASHI-NII!" came the familiar shout and a tangled mess of boy and dog scampered across the hallway and straight at his knees. He reflexively braced his feet with chakra and caught the two with careful, welcoming hands. "Hello, Naruto," he said and for the first time all day, his guard slipped. "It's very good to see you."

"YOU'RE BACK, YOU'RE BACK!" Naruto bellowed into his ear, Ryou enthusiastically licking his other one.

"I'm here, I'm here," Kakashi said and ruffled Naruto's bright yellow hair. He looked up and caught a glimpse of something pink around the corner before it disappeared with a squeak. "Do you have something to tell me?" he asked, standing up and walking down the hallway, Naruto stuck to his leg like burr.

"Oh yeah!" Naruto said, grinning so widely that his eyes turned into little blue slits. "I brought a friend over and her name is Sakura and she knows all the coolest things about ninja and we were playing with Ryou and and and-"

Kakashi turned around the corner and caught sight of his little pink-haired student sitting politely at a kitchen chair, cheeks flushed a deep red. "Hello, Sakura-chan," he said and smiled. "It's very nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you!" Sakura squeaked, covering her face with her hands. Naruto untangled himself from Kakashi leg and ran over to Sakura, nearly crashing right into the chair legs. "Hey, hey, hey Sakura-chan this is Kakashi-nii, he's the bestest ever in the whole world ever and he's the strongest ninja in the village!" The look of embarrassment shifted into awe and Kakashi rubbed the back of his neck, inordinately pleased at the sight of his two little students before him.

"Well, I'm not that great, Naruto-kun," he said lamely. "Would you like to stay for dinner?"

Sakura and Naruto brightened at the same time, pink and yellow twins. "I'd love to but my Mama-" Her face paled. "I forgot to tell Mama that I came over here to play." Her green eyes filled up with tears and Naruto looked over at Kakashi, face pleading.

Kakashi felt something in him give. "Alright, then we'll just have to let her know then, ok?" he said and bit down on his thumb, hands running through seals with an easy familiarity. He slammed his hand down on the floor and when the smoke cleared, he could see Pakkun's familiar grouchy face. "Boss," Pakkun drawled and Kakashi could hear Sakura and Naruto's twin gasps of surprise.

"Pakkun," Kakashi grinned, chakra spiking with pleasure. "It's good to see you."

"Yeah, yeah," the dog muttered and twisted around, giving Naruto and Sakura a suspicious look. "You whelped? _You_?"

"I'll explain later," Kakashi muttered hurriedly and gestured over at Naruto. "Pencil and paper please, Naruto-kun." Naruto scampered off to the desk in the living room and came back panting, pencil clenched in his mouth and stacks of paper in his hands.

He accepted it with a muttered thanks and scrawled a quick note to Haruno-san, saying that Sakura was playing with Naruto and would stay over for dinner and he would personally escort her home later. Kakashi signed it with a flourish and a tiny henohenomoheji and rolled it up.

"Take this over to Haruno Sakura's mother. Sakura, where do you live?"

"Bunkyo Ward, Cherry Tree St, Number 676," Sakura recited, hands clasped together on her lap.

"There," Kakashi said and handed the paper over to Pakkun. "Straight to Sakura-chan's mother, you understand?"

"You owe me an explanation," Pakkun growled with feeling and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Woah," Naruto breathed, his eyes glazed with awe. "That was so _cool_, Nii-chan! I WANNA LEARN TO DO THAT."

"Don't be stupid," Sakura whispered at him, equally awed. "That's a summoning technique. Only super advanced ninja know that!"

"I'm not stupid!" Naruto whispered back furiously.

"Stop acting like you are!" Sakura shot back. "We'll learn when we become ninja later. When we're _older_."

Kakashi looked at his two students before him and smiled, listening to the squabbling with a blissful expression. It was good to be home.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

* * *

"We look so stupid," Naruto said in his best imitation of an indoor voice, which was a little less than shouting for other people.

"We're having dinner with some very nice people," Kakashi said, sounding like he was walking to his own funeral. He tugged irritably at the dark blue scarf he'd wound around his neck; he'd dug it up from the bottom of a box where he kept all of his old clothes. What had possessed him to invite himself over into _enemy _territory? Kakashi had distinct fantasies of two body bags being carried out of the Uchiha district, sized perfectly to fit him and Naruto.

"Shirt itches," Naruto whined and tugged at the hem of the formal white shirt Kakashi had shoved him into with threats of no ramen for a month.

"Deal with it," Kakashi snapped back and tried not to touch the kunai he'd slipped up his sleeves. _No permanent damage_, he reminded himself and straightened his back as they approached the gate leading to the district. He gave the two bored-looking sentries a cheerfully fake smile. "Afternoon," he said. "Lovely weather isn't it?"

"State your name and business," one of the guards said, flicking his dark eyes distastefully over Kakashi's blue scarf, long-sleeved black shirt and black pants. Naruto, mercifully, stayed quiet.

"Hatake Kakashi, here to have dinner with Uchiha Fugaku," Kakashi said and grabbed Naruto's shoulder in warning when it looked like he would make a run back to the village. _Coward_, he thought viciously, ignoring his own instinct to run back home.

"Fugaku-sama is expecting you," the sentry droned and Kakashi gave him a tight smile. "Course he is." With a steel grip on Naruto, he shepherded him through the gates and into one of the most exclusive areas in Konoha. A bright red line of swinging lanterns met them, flames flickering in the evening wind. In the distance, Kakashi could laughter and the sound of steel ringing; over there, his nose detected an okonomiyaki stand, bustling with business.

"Wow," Naruto whispered, looking around him in awe. "It's like a whole 'nother village!"

This, Kakashi thought grimly, was the Uchiha district as it should have been in his own time. Filled with life, families, children running around without care or worry. No wonder Sasuke had been driven to madness; his entire home had been wiped out in the span of a night at the age of_seven_. "The Niidaime granted the Uchiha this land as a gift for their faithful service to the village," Kakashi said, old lectures from Minato-sensei rising up to the surface of his mind.

"How many people live here?" Naruto wondered, trotting to keep up with Kakashi's quick pace through Main street and towards the residential area.

"Hundreds," Kakashi replied distractedly and debated whether or not to put the two of them under a genjutsu, noticing the curious looks many of the Uchiha sent them. After a second, he decided against it- the more witnesses that saw them coming in, the better. Much harder for Fugaku to murder them. "There's the main family, then several branch houses and some of the civilian families with close ties to the Uchiha clan that also live here."

"Main family and what?" Naruto asked, his hand gripping Kakashi's tightly. The bustling crowds had thinned and the excitement of the shops faded away as the landscape shifted to accommodate more trees, ponds and the occasional house, roofs sweeping gracefully in the sky. Kakashi followed the path out of memory and occasionally checked the discreet chakra markers planted on the sides of the dirt road to make sure they were going to right direction.

"Big clans, especially those with kekkei genkai, are divided up into several sections," Kakashi said, tugging his forehead protector over Obito's eye absently. "There's the main, important family. They're usually the strongest and hold the most power. The branch ones are not as strong and they don't have as much money or status. Uchiha Fugaku, who we're meeting for dinner, he's the most important person here. He's the head of the main family, which means he's the head of the entire clan."

"That means he's super powerful?" Naruto asked, nose scrunched up.

"I guess so," Kakashi hazarded, trying to ignore the way his heart was sinking into his stomach as Fugaku's grand and beautiful house slowly came into view.

"But he's not as powerful as you, right Kakashi-nii-san?"

Startled, Kakashi looked down at Naruto's bright blue eyes, right at Minato-sensei's eyes, wide and open and so trusting. "It's hard to say," Kakashi said after a long moment. "I haven't fought him before."

"Don't worry, nii-san," Naruto said confidently, squeezing his hand tight. "I know you're the bestest ninja in the whole world ever, you can definitely beat Fuguki!"

"Fugaku," Kakashi corrected automatically and wondered vaguely at the warmth that was rising in his chest.

"Right, that's what I said!"

They reached the end of the path and Kakashi stood in front of the steps leading up to the magnificent sliding doors. It looked much the same as it did when he'd first come here, twelve years old and miserable, with Obito's eye freshly implanted in his head and wondering if the Uchiha Clan Head would ask for his death. At least this time he was here for much more pleasant reasons.

Kakashi flared his chakra once and felt two chakra signatures float over towards the door immediately. The doors slid open without a sound, revealing a kind-looking woman in a kimono and Itachi, dressed in a traditional collared shirt and old standard issue black pants.

"Oh!" The woman pressed a hand against her mouth. "Please, forgive our manners, we were expecting you much later."

Kakashi prodded Naruto with his elbow. "Bow," he hissed. Looking up at Uchiha Mikoto, he smiled and bowed as well. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Uchiha-san," he said. "This is my ward, Uzumaki Naruto." To his credit, Naruto only wobbled slightly when he bent over.

"It's very good to see you, Hatake-san," Itachi remarked softly, dark eyes unreadable. "And you as well, Uzumaki-kun."

At Naruto's curious look, Mikoto smiled hesitantly. "My son, Itachi," she explained, a gentle hand on her son's shoulder. "Please, come in. Welcome to our home."

The two trooped up the wooden stairs and entered a tastefully decorated anteroom covered with tatami mats. Kakashi shucked off his sandals and shoved them under a bench, picking up a pair of slippers that looked like they might fit him.

"We have to change shoes?" Naruto whispered, looking very scandalized at the pink and white house slippers Kakashi was pulling on.

"Do as I do, Naruto, and we may yet come out of this alive." Kakashi hunted around for a pair in Naruto's size and found a cheerful looking yellow one stamped with the Uchiha crest. "Take off your sandals and put these on, it's the polite thing to do."

With ill grace, Naruto yanked off his beloved ninja sandals (he'd been so overjoyed when Kakashi had bought him the pair that he'd been struck speechless) and pushed them right next to Kakashi's, his little feet dwarfed by Kakashi's worn and dirty blue sandals.

"Dinner will take a while," Itachi said from the hallway leading out of the anteroom, his voice floating over to the whispering duo on the floor. "My Mother wishes to send her apologies for leaving her guests, but the rice needed tending to right away."

"Oh, not a problem," Kakashi said, standing up in one smooth motion and tucking a squirming Naruto under an arm. "It's our fault for coming so early."

Itachi smiled and gestured at them to follow. "I have a younger brother about the same age as you, Uzumaki-kun," he said, leading them through labyrinthine maze of beautiful hardwood hallways and rice-paper sliding doors. Kakashi was vaguely reminded of the countless homes of lords he'd assassinated in the elegant simplicity of the home. "His name is Sasuke and he'll be attending the Academy next year."

Naruto perked up at the mention of the Konoha Ninja Academy. "Really? Me too! Kakashi-nii-san said I could go next year when I'm seven and I'm super super super excited to go!"

"Perhaps you'll be classmates," Itachi mused gently and stopped in front of a unmarked rice paper door, two chakra signatures flickering behind it. "Father," he said, raising his voice a little. "You have guests."

"Enter."

Kakashi tightened his grip on Naruto and followed Itachi into the lair of Uchiha Fugaku. It was surprisingly open. An entire wall had been pulled out in the far end, opening up into a courtyard filled with beautiful plants and a well-tended rock garden. Fugaku himself sat at a low table in the middle of the room, a cup of tea in front of him, the village paper in his hands and little Sasuke sitting beside him, looking supremely bored.

"Uchiha-san! So good to see you, what a lovely home you have," Kakashi said brightly and plopped down onto a cushion, settling Naruto down beside him, across from Sasuke. "This is my ward, Uzumaki Naruto. That must be your son, Sasuke, right?" Itachi gave him an unreadable look as he settled down next to his father's side.

"Hatake-san," Fugaku said coolly, setting down the paper and looking very much like he wanted to give Kakashi the stink eye. "How...pleasant to see you."

"Likewise, likewise," Kakashi said amiably and wondered how long this torture would last. "Naruto," he nudged, "say hello to our wonderful host."

Naruto grinned. "Hiya Fugu-" Kakashi nudged him a little harder- "Fugaku-san," Naruto recovered, stumbling a little. "Nice ta meetcha! I'm Uzumaki Naruto, the greatest prankster in the whole widest world and I'm gonna be the Hokage someday! Yeah!"

Fugaku looked like Naruto had thrown up all over his hakama. "He dreams big," Kakashi grinned and ruffled Naruto's hair, ignoring Naruto's squawk of indignity. Sasuke, across the table, came alive a little and smiled, chubby cheeks scrunching up. It was, Kakashi thought with a little dismay,_adorable_.

"What about you, Sasuke-kun?" Kakashi said, propping his elbow lazily on the table. "You're going to the Academy next year, right?"

Sasuke gave his father a quick sidelong glance before speaking up. "Yes," he said, pride swelling up in his squeaky voice. "Father said I shall be going when I'm seven years old. I'm going to be a ninja and be better than my aniki some day!"

"Hey hey, I bet my nii-san is better than your nii-san!" Naruto shouted, slamming his fists enthusiastically down on the table. Fugaku's eye twitched.

"What?" Sasuke looked like someone had punched him. The tiny six year old stood up, cheeks flushing, hands on his hips. "My nii-san is the best ninja in the _village_, so there!"

"Kakashi-nii-san is the best in the whole _country_," Naruto shot back, standing up as well. "He's the bestest ninja in the world world!"

"No _mine_ is!"

"No mine!"

"No-"

Kakashi raised his voice the second he saw Fugaku's temper reach boiling point. "Maa, maa, boys," he said sheepishly, running a hand through his scruffy hair. "No need to argue about silly things like that." Itachi gave him an amused look.

"Silly?!" the boys shrieked in unison and then shot each other equally dirty looks.

"Silly," Itachi repeated with a firm voice. "Kakashi-senpai and I are ninja in service to the village. There's no need for comparison."

The back of Kakashi's head smugly pointed out that Kakashi was probably better than Itachi so there was no need to argue the point. "Right and you two will be much better than us in the future, I'm sure," he said, tugging Naruto back down onto the floor.

"Yeah, whatever, I still think you're better," Naruto said grumpily. Sasuke looked murderous and the tentative peace Kakashi and Itachi had established threatened to shatter.

"How about we play a game?" Kakashi threw in desperately. "A cool ninja game that my own sensei taught me when I was your age?"

"Game?" Naruto said, ear pricking up. "A _ninja_ game?"

"Yes, but only if you and Sasuke play together." With a discreet movement, he gestured at Itachi to bring some ink, a brush and rice paper _right now_. Without hesitation, Itachi slipped from the room silently, the two younger boys ignorant of his departure.

"We will be having dinner soon." Fugaku's voice brooked no dissent.

"Just a little game," Kakashi said smoothly, plowing right through Fugaku. Kakashi had thirty years of experience ignoring three different Hokages; Fugaku didn't quite measure up to the fury of Tsunade, the implacable nature of the Sandaime or the terrifying skill of the Yondaime. "My jounin sensei taught me this when I was six." Of course, Minato-sensei had used the exercise to teach him to recognize and avoid exploding notes in preparation for the chuunin exam, but with a few modifications...

Despite himself, Fugaki looked intrigued. "Your sensei?" The _Hokage_ went unsaid but Kakashi heard it all the same.

"It helped me pass the chuunin exam," Kakashi said truthfully. He'd exploited the basics of sealing techniques Minato-sensei had taught him and took out an an entire colony of giant centipedes. "Ah, thank you, Uchiha-kun," Kakashi said as Itachi suddenly reappeared at his elbow, setting an ink stone, brush and rice paper on the table.

"_Please_, Father," Sasuke begged his father, eyes going wide and all _adorable_. How strange to see something so cute on his revenge-obsessed and bitter student's face. How normal it looked. How_ right_. Kakashi risked a quick glance at Itachi and filed away the soft and caring look on his face.

"Alright," Fugaku gave in but his eyes were stern. "But we finish as soon as your Mother says dinner is ready."

"Thank you, Father," Sasuke beamed.

"Yeah, thanks Fugaku-san!" Naruto cheered. "We're gonna play a ninja game!"

Kakashi ground up an ink stick Itachi had so thoughtfully provided and dipped a finger into the murky black water, testing the consistency. With a sharp nudge, he pushed chakra out of his finger and the fresh ink glowed an iridescent blue, sucking up the chakra he fed it greedily. After a few minutes, he let the flow trickle to a halt and dipped his brush into the chakra-enhanced ink.

"Exploding tags?" Fugaku observed, dark eyes keen.

"Something like that," Kakashi responded absently and began sketching out six sealing tags onto a sheet of paper, primed to explode when the release kanji was scored. "Explodes with ink instead of chakra fire. My sensei came up with it to help me understand the principles of exploding notes and sealing techniques." He finished inscribing the six tags with quick strokes of his brush and then palmed a kunai.

With swift, easy movements, the sheet was cut into six sections and Kakashi set them aside to dry on the table and started on another one.

"This is excellent sealing work," Itachi noted quietly, his dark eyes flickering with red. "Have you tried modifying it for other uses?"

"It's basic sealing," Kakashi said, worrying his bottom lip as he painted the release kanji with small, careful strokes. "Sensei came up with all these modifications for the tags. Flares, sensor tags, timed explosions. It's how he managed to work out Hiraishin in the first place."

"The Flying Thunder God Technique?" Fugaku's eyebrows rose as Kakasi nodded.

"Done!" Kakashi cut the last sheet of paper and set a casual wave of chakra wind over them, drying the twelve exploding tags in an instant. "Alright, boys." Kakashi grinned wolfishly. "Want to play a ninja game?"

* * *

"He's not what I expected," Fugaku said, sipping his tea contemplatively. His son twitched at his side, eyes easily tracking the punch Sasuke valiantly tried to land on Kakashi, only to hit Naruto's shoulder. The ensuing screech of pain was loud enough to remind Fugaku of Sasuke's _much_ younger days.

"Which one?" Itachi asked.

"Both." He swirled the green tea around in his mouth, enjoying the clean bitter taste. "The boy is surprisingly normal for..." Fugaku paused, searching for the right word. "For what he is. If he and Sasuke befriend each other, it would be good for the clan."

"Why not for Sasuke's benefit?" Itachi asked, his son's normally soft voice hardening a little. Fugaku frowned.

"What is good for the clan is undoubtedly good for Sasuke," he said, his voice reproving. "You must not forget, Itachi, we all of us have a duty to maintain the clan's power and status in the village, as it is right. Uzumaki is now Hatake's ward, and _he's_ recently claimed his father's seat for his own. Things are changing, Itachi, and the Uchiha must keep up." He watched Kakashi easily dance around the exploding notes Sasuke had cleverly hidden in the dirt, only for Naruto to come flying out of Mikoto's prized rose bushes, scattering pink rose petals everywhere. Kakashi neatly dodged the boy but failed to account for Sasuke, who sprang up and went straight for Kakashi's knees.

"Long ago, Senju and Uchiha came together to form the basis of this village."

Fugaku put down his cup of tea. Why was his eldest son telling him the story every Konoha babe learned at their mother's knee? "Yes," he said slowly, humoring his son. "Madara-sama and Hashirama-sama brokered peace and founded the first and most powerful hidden village."

"But Madara betrayed the clan and the village." Itachi's voice was cold and dispassionate. "His ambitions proved too great and he broke the trust that made this village what it was." His son blinked and his red eyes slowly shifted back to black as a giant plume of inky smoke enveloped the courtyard, covering Naruto and Sasuke, much to their combined dismay, judging by their yelps.

"The Uchiha have _always_ been faithful to the Village," Fugaku said, his voice growing very cold, colder than his son's. "It is not our fault if the Hokage and the Council fail to trust us and lock us away in seclusion, using us as tools they can just throw away."

"If Sasuke were to disobey you and break a promise to you, Father, you would be disappointed, wouldn't you? You would punish him and wonder if he deserved trust, but you would still love him, wouldn't you Father?"

Fugaku tried to trace the winding web of words that his son wove around him, but could find no straight path. "Sasuke is my _son_," he said. "I would be disappointed, of course, but he is my family. My son."

"Konoha has feared the Uchiha, that is true," Itachi said quietly, fingering the frayed hem of his old training shirt. "And it has unjustly forced us to live in a district far from others, making us live in isolation. Small wonder that we have grown distant from the village that we have helped found and guard. If Sasuke were to grow to hate you for your distance, wouldn't you push him away even further? Wouldn't you feel as if he weren't deserving, not mature enough to deserve your trust again"

Fugaku felt something in his chest tighten. "Sasuke is not the Uchiha and I am not the Council," he said slowly, shakily finding his way in this new territory that Itachi slowly mapped out in front of him.

"Of course not," Itachi said calmly and Fugaku looked at his son, his eleven year old chuunin boy and his chest tightened even more. It seemed only yesterday when his little boy was crawling over to him, demanding to be held up in the air. "The Uchiha must protect the village," Itachi continued. "But let us not forget that we are also a part of the village, Father."

Fugaku had a half a second warning before his younger son barreled towards him, every inch of exposed skin covered with streaks of dried ink. "Papa, Papa!" Sasuke beamed and jumped into his father's arms, instantly ruining Fugaku's hakama, hand-stitched by Mikoto with the finest silk and cotton. "Did you see? Did you see?" his son babbled, clinging to Fugaku's neck with sweaty, grimy fingers. "We pushed Kakashi-nii-san to the ground and then he disappeared and it was Mama's roses and then _we_ got all covered with the black stuff and Papa it was so much _fun_," he finished with a deep, satisfied smile.

"Your Mother would be very sad to see you so dirty," Fugaku tried to say sternly, but somehow his voice would only come out soft and weak. He cleared his throat and instead inclined his head at Hatake, who was casually walking into the room from the courtyard, holding Naruto clear off the floor with a tight grip on the back of the boy's shirt. To his credit, the silver haired man was entirely spot free.

"Thank you," he said gruffly and the other man just nodded back boredly.

Itachi rose gracefully from the ground. "I'll let Mother know that Sasuke and Naruto both need a new change of clothes and a quick wash."

Naruto groaned, squirming in the air. "'Nother _bath_?! But I had one today already!"

Kakashi shook his burden lightly. "Saa, you're a mess right now. You'll get all the cushions dirty when we sit down to eat, Naruto."

"If you'll follow me?" Itachi asked deferentially and Kakashi, along with his blond haired burden, followed his eldest son out of the door.

"You too, Sasuke," Fugaku said and lifted Sasuke from his lap and set him down on the floor.

"'Kay, Papa," Sasuke said obediently and scampered out the door, leaving small black foorprints in his wake. "Wait for me, idjit!" he heard his younger son yell and the Uzumaki boy yell something incomprehensible back.

Fugaku closed his eyes and reached out with his senses, chakra flickering like ghostly flames in his mind's eyes. He could feel Sasuke's bright flicker and Kakashi's and Itachi more tempered presences, tightly controlled and quiet. The Uzumaki boy's was like a roaring flame, coated with a malevolent chakra that was undoubtedly the demon fox tainting it. Far to the right of him, he could feel Mikoto's graceful flame, flickering in time with his own as she moved around the kitchen. _We are also a part of the village, Father_. When had his son, his little eleven year old boy, grown so wise?

* * *

"Oh, you really don't have to do that," Mikoto said softly, stacking up the bowls and chopsticks with easy, deft movements.

"It'll keep me away from Naruto," Kakashi said and used the reflective glass window above Mikoto's head to check on the two boys gossiping happily over the latest comic books behind them on the floor. "He's busy being a six year old. I'm too old to play with him right now."

"They grow up so fast," Mikoto said wistfully and carried a stack of bowls into the kitchen, Kakashi following her, footsteps silent. "Seems like only yesterday Sasuke-chan was throwing his mashed potatoes at the wall."

"He must have had excellent aim."

Mikoto slid the bowls into the sink and turned the tap on, pulling on a pair of bright red gloves stamped with the Uchiha crust. She smiled up at Kakashi and the corners of her eyes crinkled. "It took Fugaku a week for his hair to stop smelling like peas," she whispered conspiratorially, generously pouring soap all over her sponge.

Kakashi had a graphic vision of Fugaku covered in slimy green goop and he was suddenly very grateful that he'd missed he'd missed that particular phase with Naruto. He picked up a dishtowel and methodically began drying the dishes that Mikoto washed. They slipped into a comfortable routine, Mikoto occasionally humming a song or chatting idly about her sons. Kakashi dried the last bowl and stacked it carefully in the cabinet, absently noting the expensive craftsmanship of the porcelain dishware.

"Kakashi-san, forgive me if this sounds impertinent but..."

Kakashi closed the cabinet door and tilted his head at her, dark eye flicking over her slim frame. He waited as she clasped her hands tightly, struggle painted clearly on her face.

"Uzumaki Kushina was a very dear friend of mine," Mikoto said slowly and Kakashi's breath caught in his throat. "You were the Yondaime's student, weren't you, Kakashi-san?" He nodded tightly.

Mikoto hesitated for a moment before plowing on, her eyes growing determined. "Then you must have had a passing acquaintance with her."

Kushina-san had been the one to convince Minato-sensei to let him stay in their guest room after the incident and the one to convince the Sandaime that Minato should be appointed his legal guardian. She'd made him kitsune ramen for his birthdays and always made sure to visit him in the hospital, clucking over the seals that the medics had drawn up and switching them out for her own. In a way, she'd been the mother he'd never had.

"Yes," Kakashi said tersely. "I knew her."

"Then- Uzumaki-kun-"

Kakashi's right hand tightened into a fist. "Be careful with what you say, Uchiha-san," he said, forcing his voice to be smooth and even.

Mikoto let out a tense breath and her eyes were half-hopeful and half-fearful. "Are you saying-?"

"I haven't said anything," he said evenly and forced his hand to relax, letting it fall uselessly at his side.

Mikoto nodded and Kakashi remembered vaguely that Mikoto herself had been an accomplished kunoichi before she'd retired to marry Fugaku and bear children. It showed in her tightly trained chakra signature and her mannerisms. "That's enough," she said, her voice a gentle sigh. "Thank you very much, Kakashi-san."

Kakashi shrugged. "I haven't said anything for you to thank me for."

Mikoto smiled and pulled off her rubber gloves with a snap. "Kushina-chan was very fond of you, you know."

Kakashi swallowed. "She was a good ninja," he said. "A credit to her village."

Mikoto turned away to the end of the kitchen and Kakashi was silently grateful for the privacy she gave him to master himself. She opened the fridge door and pulled out a beautiful plate arrayed with flowering patterns of mochi in a hundred different colors. "I think the boys would enjoy this treat, don't you think so Kakashi-san?"

"Yes, Naruto would be thrilled," Kakashi said and memorized the soft, maternal look Mikoto gave him, hiding a core of hard steel. What Kushina-san had been to him, perhaps Mikoto could be for Naruto... "Very thrilled," he said. "Kushina-san enjoyed mochi very much."

"Then I'm sure Naruto-kun would enjoy them as well." Mikoto gave him a knowing look and carried the tray out the door.

* * *

Kakashi heard the polite creak of wood before Itachi's chakra unfurled next to him, whisper-soft. He relaxed the instinctive flood of chakra to his fingers and tucked a dagger back into his sandal.

"Hatake-senpai," Itachi said quietly. "I apologize for disturbing you."

Kakashi shrugged and continued to watch Naruto and Sasuke gambol excitedly like two cats in the courtyard beneath them, tearing through Mikoto's prized roses without a thought.

"Sasuke seems very pleased to have found a playmate his age," the boy said lightly. "He doesn't have a great many friends in the district and since Father refused to let him attend the civilian school..."

"You seem fond of your brother," Kakashi said, leaning back on his hands, hard roof tiles digging into his skin.

"Of course. He's my _brother_," Itachi said solemnly as if that were explanation enough.

Too many things didn't make sense. Why had Itachi murdered his entire clan but left Sasuke alive? And why did the Massacre happen at the same time as when Kakashi had left ANBU and Root had grown in power? Why, why, _why?_ Over the years, Kakashi had cobbled together facts and lurked through the records, trying to figure out what had exactly occurred that night, that fateful night when the clan heir snapped and killed two hundred and forty six people.

Coming back, _here_, he'd gambled and made contact with Itachi, if only to keep the boy close and monitor his mental state and maybe use him against Danzou. But nothing made sense: Itachi, during his time as an Akatsuki operative, had never been known to kill a Konoha shinobi. He'd certainly incapacitated, harmed, maimed, threatened- but never, ever killed. Not even when he'd the chance and Kakashi had been helpless at his feet. Not when Sasuke had been seven and vulnerable, not when Sasuke had been twelve and driven mad by vengeance. It was one reason why Kakashi had thrown in a spiel about protecting the village, hoping that there was more underneath the underneath. And it had _worked._

There was more that he didn't know about and Kakashi had a sinking suspicion that Fugaku and Danzou were at the heart of it. Clan _politics_. Kakashi's lip curled. He'd certainly experienced more than his fair share of it, first with his father's disgrace and later when Obito's gift had enraged the Uchiha Clan. Even then, Sousuke-sama had been obsessed with power, with the Uchiha's standing in the eyes of the village. Fugaku was much the same and no doubt he was infecting his own sons with the same nonsense, dragging his eldest son into the viper's nest. Could it be that Fugaku had driven Itachi mad? But that hardly made any sense, given what he knew of the boy

And how did it all tie into the _Massacre_?

"It's a beautiful home," Kakashi offered, breaking the tense silence that had sprung up between them.

"My grandfather had it built during the Third War in accordance with his views on the prominence of the Uchiha," Itachi said.

"I remember." Kakashi shrugged. "It looks much better finished and with a family living in it."

Itachi cocked his head like a bird, shifting almost imperceptibly on his feet. "You've been here before."

"A long, long time ago." Seven, eight years ago about in this body but for Kakashi's mind it was an entire lifetime ago. Kakashi tapped his forehead protector. "Your Uncle's gift had some repercussions."

"I'd heard some rumors but..." Itachi's voice trailed off.

"They objected to having a non-Uchiha bear the Sharingan," Kakashi said laconically. "It didn't help I was the son of the White Fang. A disgrace."

"I believe that your Father was a hero," Itachi said and Kakashi snapped his head to look at the boy perched at his side, heart thudding. _Those who abandon their teammates are worse than scum. Your Father was a hero. The White Fang was a hero._ _Obito._

"What?" Kakashi croaked.

Dark eyes reflected the light of the stars above them. "The White Fang saved the lives of six shinobi on that mission. It was wrong of the village to condemn him for that." Itachi shrugged.

How strange that Uchiha Obito, black sheep and perpetual failure, would be born again as the Clan heir and the strongest Uchiha born of the clan for generation. How fitting. But the _massacre..._

Kakashi bit down the urge to growl. He had too few pieces and not enough information to solve the damned puzzle hovering in front of him and he was running out of time. "The village has condemned many," Kakashi said carefully, picking his words with caution. "My father, Naruto, the Uchiha."

Itachi twitched. "Yes," the boy allowed. "Fear has been known to misguide."

"But we must still protect the village, because it holds the most important thing in the world."

Itachi looked up at the older man, his eyes curious.

"The future," Kakashi said quietly and jerked his head at the two laughing boys, wrestling on the ground.

There was another long silence before Itachi spoke up, his normally calm voice now hesitant. "Kakashi-senpai...I believe...that there are some in this clan that are making...less than wise choices."

Kakashi's ears pricked and he scratched his nose casually. "Oh?"

"There have been..." Itachi idly picked at a clay tile, scratching something illegible with his fingernail. "Angry conversations. About the village's mistrust. The decline of Uchiha power."

Kakashi puzzled over Itachi's words, face unreadable. "You don't mean-?"

"Who knows what a frightened animal, backed into a corner, might do when it feels that it is going to be devoured?"

Kakashi's breath caught in his chest. A fucking _coup._ The Uchiha were planning a fucking _coup_. Of all the theories he'd come up with over the years, he'd never even bothered to think about the coup, convinced of the loyalty of a founding clan. A _coup._ There had been rumors of the Uchiha being discontent, powerful but furious at being sidelined in favor of others, like the Hyuuga. But to overthrow the Council and potentially assassinate the Hokage- Kakashi felt like someone had punched clean through his chest.

No wonder Itachi had killed them all, Kakashi realized numbly. The other option was Konoha being split apart by internal conflict; more than easy pickings for the rest of the hidden villages. And Danzou- the massacre fair reeked of him. Somehow, he must have manipulated the boy next to him into going against his own family while in ANBU. Eliminate threats at any and all costs. It made so much _sense_. No wonder Itachi had never killed a Konoha nin- no wonder he kept his brother alive. He loved him too much to kill him. No doubt Danzou used that love to kill Itachi's family.

He looked down below him, watching Sasuke leap into a flying tackle and flatten Naruto onto the ground, the two of them shrieking bloody murder at each other. His pack _ruined_ by the fucking ambitions of Danzou and Fugaku- just collateral damage. Just two little boys, ruined by pride and ambition. Kakashi felt sick.

A bracing hand gently touched his shoulder and Kakashi blinked once, twice. "Itachi," he said quietly. "You must listen to me. We need to prevent this- this, whatever this is, from happening."

The grip on his shoulder tightened. "I have tried my best, Kakashi-senpai, but-"

Kakashi shook his head violently. "There is much, much more going on then you think," he said in a low voice. "But if the Council catches even so much as a _word_ of this." Itachi stilled and the two of them looked at the children beneath them.

"They wouldn't dare-"

"What do you think happened to all the clans with kekkei genkai in Kiri?" Kakashi's mouth twisted underneath his mask. "One man with the ability to walk through shadows tries to assassinate the Mizukage. The next day, an edict goes out ordering the death of all with special abilities."

"The Uchiha have played with fire so long that we have forgotten how it dangerous it is." Itachi let go of Kakashi's shoulder and retreated into the shadows, face wan and pale. "Kakashi-senpai, there are a few of us in the clan who- who want to protect the village and our families."

"We are running out of time." Kakashi's lips thinned. "The Council is restless as it is. I don't think I have to tell you about how Danzou is feeling."

"I will alert them right away," Itachi said, crossing his arms over his chest. "But it's the clan elders who will prove to be the most trouble."

"Clan-village relations must be strengthened," Kakashi said absently. "I'll speak on behalf of the clan during council meetings and privately with the Hokage, but I can only do so much. The clan needs to make this happen." _Fugaku needs to make this happen._ Kakashi scowled and dug his fingers into the terra cotta roof, unconsciously channeling chakra.

"You speak as if you know what will happen." Kakashi met Itachi's intense stare with a droopy eye, projecting as much disinterest as he could possibly muster.

"Oh, not really," Kakashi said vaguely. "But I know the Council. I know shinobi villages. I know _war_."

Itachi sucked in a quiet breath. "You don't mean Sasuke...?"

"You and your friends have your work cut out for yourselves," Kakashi said and his fingers slid through hardened clay like a hot knife in butter. "Or the clan's precious future might never happen."

* * *

"It was good of you to come," Fugaku said gruffly and bowed as a man befitting his station: barely.

"Oh, well, it was a wonderful meal." The Hatake boy smiled and bobbed like an idiot but Fugaku saw the clever mind hiding behind the unseemly mask.

"Please, do come again," Mikoto said gently and she pressed her calloused, small hand against his, gripping tight. Fugaku swallowed and something inside of him softened at his wife's touch. "Dinner again would be no bad thing," he said slowly and his wife's chakra flickered brightly.

"Come over next time and I'll show you the cool shuriken trick aniki showed me," Sasuke boasted but Fugaku was too proud of his son to scold him for being so rude to the guests.

"I'll bring Ryou-chan wif me," Naruto bounced on his feet, barely held in place by the Hatake's grip on his shoulder. "He knows all these cool tricks and mebbe we can teach him to do shuriken tricks too!"

Sasuke looked intrigued and a sly look passed over his face. "Dog tricks?" Fugaku had always forbidden pets on the grounds of mess but Sasuke had persisted in bringing home stray animals, throwing formidable temper tantrums when Fugaku had carried the latest kitten or bird out to the woods. He had a distinctly unwell feeling when looking at Sasuke's face.

"Yeah, dog tricks," the blond boy said happily. "'S me and Nii-san's friend, Ryou-chan's the best."

Sasuke, the demonic child that he was, turned large, bright eyes at him. "Papa," he said in a forlorn sort of voice. "May Ryou-chan and Naruto come and visit soon?"

"Well." Fugaku swallowed as Sasuke's eyes filled with more tears. "I'll think about it," he muttered and gripped his wife's hand for support.

Sasuke cheered and the two children enacted some sort of victory dance ritual, jumping up and down and throwing their arms in the air, shouting like little hooligans. "Alright, that's enough," Fugaku said coldly. "The guests must be on their way now."

Sasuke immediately fell back into line but his lines of his face were satisfied. Fugaku thought despairingly that in some ways his children were even worse than the power plays of the council.

"Bow," he heard the Hatake boy whisper to his charge and the Uzumaki boy bowed unsteadily, bright blond hair flopping as he did. Strange, how much the child reminded him of another Uzumaki, long gone and dead...

"It was very good to see you, Uzumaki-kun, Kakashi-senpai." His eldest son bowed back gracefully, perhaps a touch more deeper than he should have as a Clan heir but Fugaku could clearly see the respect his son had for the Hatake. Interesting. Strengthening ties between the Uchiha and the Hatake could prove useful during Council meetings.

"We'll see you soon," Hatake bobbed and crouched down, letting Naruto eagerly clamber up onto his back, thin arms curled around the masked man's neck. "The night is late and I don't want to impose on your hospitality any longer."

When the silver and gold haired duo disappeared with just a flicker of chakra, Fugaku breathed out a sigh of relief.

"They were very lovely," Mikoto smiled and squeezed his hands, her dark eyes affectionate.

"Naruto's not _lovely_," Sasuke said disparagingly, lower lip sticking out in a pout. "He's a _boy_."

"Sasuke," Fugaku said warningly.

Mikoto patted her son's head gently. "If he's not lovely, then what is he?"

To the family's surprise it was Itachi who answered Mikoto's question. "A good friend," he said quietly. Sasuke beamed up at his eldest son. "'xactly," he said.

* * *

A chakra string twanged softly outside his window and Kakashi woke without a sound, kunai already in his hand (he always slept with blades under his pillow) and chakra burning bright in his left hand. There was something hovering outside his window, tripping his seals, and Kakashi reached out irritatedly with his chakra, probing the guarded presence. He thought he'd kept the damned couriers away with his anti-chakra seals outside his window-

When Kakashi recognized the presence, he let his chakra die away but kept the blade tight in his hand. With a rough hand, he jerked the shade up to reveal Tenzou's wide eyes, face looking even paler than usual. Tenzou tapped on the glass with trembling hands_ outside open now emergency now now now_ and Kakashi jerked the window open with a little more force than he had to.

He slithered out, dressed in nothing but pajama bottoms and armed with a single kunai. "What is it?" he snarled, Tenzou's tension making his hackles rise. "Did someone die?"

"No." Tenzou swallowed and his face whitened. Kakashi didn't know whether it was because of the news he was bringing or because of Kakashi's killer intent. Probably both. Kakashi found that he couldn't exactly care at the moment. Naruto was sleeping just ten feet away and Sandaime-sama had _sworn_ that he would give him two months of leave to look after him. He was still exhausted from his visit to the Uchiha district and the sour smell of Tenzou's fear didn't make him feel any better.

"Then what is it?"

"Delta Squad's being sent out on a suicide mission."

Kakashi gripped the window frame tightly, knuckles whitening. His kunai trembled in his other hand. "What?" he asked dully.

"Captain- Genma just received- I didn't know who else to ask but-"

Kakashi closed his eye. "Danzou," he said. It wasn't a question.

Tenzou nodded miserably, dark circles under his eyes highlighted by the dim light of the moon. "Straight from the mouth of the Councilman."

"Fuck."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

* * *

Kakashi closed the window after Tenzou slipped in and locked the bar. "Stand back," he said and tucked his kunai into his mouth; he formed a series of seals, hot chakra flooding through his coils, and slammed his palms down on the wall. For a long moment his dark room was lit up with the dim light of his security seals activating, exuding so much chakra that it made Kakashi's eye water just looking at it.

"Senpai, those are at _least_ S-Rank seals," Tenzou said and his voice was tinged with an awe that his twelve year old self would have reveled in. Thirty year old Kakashi just felt tired.

"Tell me exactly what happened," he said and fell into the familiar stance, hands clasped behind his back, kunai in hand. Tenzou immediately straightened and he automatically fell into a ready stance.

"At about 2000 hours, Councilman Shimura Danzou summoned Captain Shiranui to attend to him. Captain received an S-RANK mission from Councilman Danzou, detailing the elimination of target GARI of Iwagakure, of the Bakuton kekkei genkai and the Explosion Corps. Failure is not acceptable and Konoha must not be implicated in this mission. Delta Squad is to leave the village in three days time and expected back in the village in two months."

Kakashi didn't get angry very often. In fact, he didn't get very _anything_ often. Extreme emotion was better suited for Gai or Naruto; Kakashi just preferred a book, some tea and a quiet afternoon sitting with one of his dogs. But, Kakashi realized dimly, as Tenzou stared back at him uncertainly, right now he was fucking _furious_.

"All ANBU squads are given three weeks of leave in order to integrate new members into their team," Kakashi said in a very quiet voice. Tenzou swallowed hard.

"C-Councilman Danzou said that this mission could be trusted to no other," Tenzou said, his voice cracking a little at the end. "And that Uchiha Itachi had proved himself particularly well before."

"Oh?" Kakashi said. "Is that so?"

"Y-Yes."

"And is Councilman Danzou also aware that Konoha has an extremely tentative peace right now with Iwa and that Gari is currently listed in all five of the major Bingo books, noted to be worth at least seventy five million ryou dead and a hundred and fifty ryou alive? And that he has managed to survive every assassination attempt for the past fifteen years?"

"Councilman Danzou- he said that Captain Shiranui was not to question his orders," Tenzou said faintly.

"Did he?" Kakashi asked, gripping the handle of his kunai tight behind his back.

"Senpai, y-you're bleeding."

Kakashi unclasped his hands behind his back and realized that he was holding the kunai by the blade instead of the handle. The edge had cut deeply into the palm of his left hand. "So I see," he said slowly and calmly placed the blood kunai onto his desk.

"I didn't know who else to go to-" Tenzou swallowed again and his sunken brown eyes looked nervously at Kakashi's bloody hands. "Captain Shiranui was in the middle of updating his will when I came," he finished quietly.

Kakashi automatically pulled out his desk chair and sat down, clenching his fist tight to stop the bleeding. Danzou, Councilman Shimura fucking Danzou was sending his team on a mission that was almost a hundred percent guarantee to fail. Against motherfucking _Gari_. Kakashi growled deeply. Gari of Iwa, who'd single-handedly managed to destroy a battalion of Konoha soldiers; Gari of Iwa, with flee on sight orders straight from the Hokage. _Gari_.

And Danzou had ordered this to clean ANBU of Kakashi's friends, his allies and to make way for the ROOT operatives he was no doubt training. Danzou was, essentially, eliminating his teammates because they were associated with him.

He was going to _kill_ Danzou.

Tenzou's pale face hovered into view. "You- you can't kill Danzou, senpai."

Kakashi blinked. Had he said that aloud?

"You did," Tenzou said, looking a touch apologetic. "But if you kill him, you'll marked a criminal and whatever Danzou's planning will probably still go on."

Kakashi closed his eye and felt Obito's eye start pounding, a dull bell constantly ringing in his head. "Alright," he said quietly. "This is what we'll do. Go to Genma immediately and fill out form 36B-AZ. Ask him to request me and give the paperwork to Morita along with a box of candied ginger. She'll have it filed within the hour. Then tell Genma to brief the team and have them meet me on the roof of The Rusty Kunai in about three hours. Everyone but Itachi. I'll take care of him."

"Understood." Tenzou saluted and then headed for the window, waiting as Kakashi undid the seals with a flash of hand seals.

"I'm sorry for dragging you into this, senpai," he said, dark brows drawn together.

"No," Kakashi said gently as he opened up the window, the evening breeze brushing his silver locks of hair. "I'm sorry for involving you. Now, go. You have three hours to get everyone and everything together. Pack for a long term infiltration mission, sealing scrolls, tags, disguise kits, everything."

"Yes, sir," Tenzou said obediently and flew out the window, disappearing into the darkness.

Kakashi shut the window again and went to work.

* * *

Fugaku swept out of the house, dressed in an elegant robe and kunai bristling in his hands, Sharingan swirling dangerously in his eyes.

"What's the emergency?" he barked at the sentry kneeling on the ground- Mariko's youngest son, Shinji. Clever boy but too excitable for his own good.

"S-sir," the boy stammered and held up a chakra-sealed scroll with trembling hands, not quite daring to make eye contact with the formidable Clan Head. "A summons dropped this off at the gate and said it was for your eyes only, Fugaku-sama."

"From the Tower?" Fugaku asked, alarm faintly tinging his voice and instinctively pushed more chakra into his eyes.

"N-no, Fugaku-sama," Shinji said, his voice cracking. "F-from Hatake Kakashi, sir."

Fugaku hurried down the steps and re-holstered the kunai, heavy silk robes rustling in the air. What could the damned boy want at this hour and so soon after the dinner? Fugaku forced himself to slow down at the last moment and reach out for the scroll in a dignified manner. His Sharingan detected streams of chakra coiled tightly around the scroll, sealed only to open to a specific chakra signature. Very, very clever work.

He nicked his thumb with a blade and swiped it across the seal, the dark kanji marks sucking up his blood hungrily. With a faint puff of smoke the scroll unrolled and Fugaku almost raised his hand to dismiss the boy when he read the missive inside.

By the Shodai, the boy was asking for the impossible-!

"Shinji," Fugaku said slowly and his Sharingan spun wildly in the moonlight. "Did the summons mention anything else?"

"A-ah, maybe that Hatake-san would be by. Soon? To confirm the response?" Shinji squeaked.

"Is that a question or an answer, boy?" Fugaku asked wearily and he waved a hand dismissively when the boy opened his mouth again. "No, don't answer that. Go back to your duty, you did well. Your Mother would be pleased with your efforts."

Shinji bowed deeply, forehead almost touching the gravel path. "Your words honor me, Fugaku-sama," he said and for once it seemed like he was too awed to stammer. A faint twist of chakra later and the boy had melted back into the shadows, leaving Fugaku alone with a bloody thumb and a deep desire to throttle the Hatake boy.

"Mikoto," Fugaku said, raising his voice slightly. His beloved wife appeared half a moment later at his side, hair only slightly windswept by the shunshin.

"Yes, beloved husband?" she said gently and rested a slender hand on his arm.

"Hatake requests that we look after the Uzumaki demon boy while he is away on an extended mission," Fugaku said, looking deeply aggrieved, the lines of his craggy face deepening. "Months, it may seem." No, throttling was too good for the boy. Fugaku would first trap him with a genjutsu they normally used to question criminals at the station and-

"Oh, Sasuke will be so pleased. I'll have to prepare an extra room and of course, Naruto-chan would have to need an extra set of bedding and a place at the table..."

"What?" Fugaku stared at his demure wife, all thoughts of torturing the Hatake boy long gone.

"Naruto-chan is such a sweet boy, of course we must help a fellow Clan Head in need and look after him," Mikoto said, her dark eyes wide and sweet. "It's very brave of Hatake-san to trust us with his heir, isn't it dear?"

"But he's-" Fugaku fumbled for the right words. "The _boy_."

"A very strong one," Mikoto nodded and her grip on Fugaku's arm tightened. "To hold back a force so devastating to the village. You'll allow this, won't you, dear?"

"I'll think about it," Fugaku said gruffly and tugged his wife back towards the house, unconsciously matching his steps with hers. "Outrageous of the boy to ask us such a thing on such short notice."

"I'm sure he has his reasons," Mikoto said agreeably and pressed a soft kiss on her husband's cheek. "Now, I'll have to ask Itachi-kun to help me air out the bedding and we must have the two of them stay for breakfast at least. Yesterday, Kenji-san had a whole fresh catch of mackerel straight from the coast and he promised to set aside a few for me. It would go splendidly with the miso and rice and there's the natto I was planning on..."

* * *

Even Copy Ninja Hatake Kakashi, Master of a Thousand Jutsu, ex ANBU hound, protege of the Yondaime Hokage and son of the late White Fang was no match for the determined will of a housewife and a tray of tea. Before he knew it, Kakashi was ushered into a room with Itachi and Fugaku and a cup of steaming green tea placed in front of him on the table along with a plate of freshly cut fruit.

Fugaku, it seemed, was long resigned to the domestic machinations of his wife and was long settled into his cushion and sipping at his tea, Itachi sitting at his right hand like a loyal retainer.

"Let me know if you need anything else," Mikoto said softly and pressed a gentle, reassuring hand on his shoulder, but not before giving his bandaged hand a concerned look. She swept out of the room and the sliding door closed with a dull finality before her.

"An unusual request," Fugaku said in that damned smug voice of his and Kakashi fought to keep a rein in on his temper. _Calm_, he repeated to himself and tried not to think about how close Danzou was, how so very easy it would be to slit his throat and leave him hanging on the walls of the village, a warning to all those who _dared_ to go against his pack. Instead, Kakashi drank his tea.

"Unusual circumstances demand unusual measures," Kakashi said and wondered if a Chidori through Danzou's chest was too quick, too merciful. "My presence has been requested for a mission and I thought it best to leave Naruto in the care of people I trust."

Fugaku raised an eyebrow. "I would hardly call our brief acquaintance a particularly close one."

Kakashi bared his teeth under his mask and his tenuous control on his killing intent grew thin. "Better with the enemy I know than the enemy that I don't." He forced himself to loosen his grip on the cup.

"If I may ask," Itachi said, speaking for the first time since the three had entered the room. "But it seems that your attire is different this morning, Kakashi-senpai."

Kakashi plucked at the hem of his black cloak. "I've volunteered for a classified mission," he said and his mouth twisted.

Fugaku's eyes narrowed. "You don't mean-?"

"It seems _he_ thinks that he can do whatever he likes with the Corps." Kakashi set the cup of tea back down on the table and wondered what Danzou's fear would smell like. "In my short absence, he seems to have wrought a great many unfavorable changes. Including the planned elimination of my old team." Sour and sickly, probably, twisted by hate and darkness.

"You have made a powerful enemy," Fugaku observed, his dark eyes unreadable.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that," Kakashi said. "The Councilman has made some very bad choices. He's made an enemy of _me_." The air in the room suddenly grew a good ten degrees colder and Kakashi wondered, dimly, that Danzou's death would probably be the first he would enjoy. He knew some genjutsu not as powerful or as dangerous as the Tsukiyomi, but just as devastating with careful application. Danzou was the root, the cause of the death of his pack. Danzou had ripped Sasuke's psyche apart, had crushed Sakura, had nearly killed Naruto and driven Five Shinobi Countries to_war_ because of his ambitions.

Death, Kakashi realized, was too good for the sack of shit.

"Kakashi-senpai," Itachi said faintly and Kakashi snapped out of his thoughts, blinking rapidly. Odd, Fugaku and Itachi looked paler and he could smell the heavy stink of fear in the air-

Ah. Kakashi tamped down on the intent that he was exuding, slowly coiling the power into a tight knot inside of himself. "I would be in your debt, Uchiha-dono," Kakashi said calmly, "if you would be so kind as to look after Naruto in my absence."

"I-" Fugaku paused and swallowed. "It would be my honor, Hatake-dono. Your trust in my clan is one that I do not hold lightly."

Kakashi's shoulders relaxed a little and he bowed his head. "Your generosity knows no bounds," he said and breathed a very quiet sigh of relief as the pieces of his hastily put-together plan slowly fell into place. Reaching into the sleeve of his voluminous ANBU cloak, he pulled out a packet of seals and placed them on the table.

"Security seals," he explained at Fugaku's questioning look. "To keep you and your household safe." _Mostly Naruto and Sasuke_, he added silently. It had taken a good hour to create powerful seals that could easily be integrated into the Uchiha seals already in place. If used properly, no harm would come to the Uchiha household. "Directions are enclosed."

Fugaku looked faintly impressed and he took the packet with a dignified gesture, setting them aside to be properly looked at later. It would rude to open gifts in front of the giver, no matter how much Kakashi could smell Fugaku wanted to.

"I don't mean to be rude but time is running short," Kakashi said and rose swiftly from the ground, pulling his dark hood up to cover his shock of silvery hair. "You have my deepest gratitudes, Uchiha-dono." _Meet me outside_, he signed at Itachi while discreetly adjusting his hood.

Fugaku and his son also stood up, he and Itachi a smoothly oiled machine rising as one and Fugaku inclined his head. "Go swiftly so you may return successfully."

A deeply cynical voice in the back of his head wondered if this would be the last time he would see the Uchiha Clan Head.

* * *

"Mission?" Naruto asked and for the first time, the enormity of Kakashi's absence seemed to hit him. "You're going to be _gone_?!" Naruto swallowed and his dark blue eyes, Minato-sensei's eyes, started filling up with tears.

Kakashi hesitantly reached out and rested his bandaged hand on Naruto's head. "Only for a very little while. I'll be back before you know it."

"Why do you have to _go?_" Naruto whimpered and his tiny hands were buried deep in Ryou's fur. The dog whined pathetically and licked at Naruto's shirt, trying to comfort him.

"I've sworn to do my duty to the Hokage," Kakashi said. "You remember him, right?"

"Old jiji?" Naruto wrinkled his nose and scrubbed furiously at his eyes. "He's a dumb old man and he doesn't even like ramen, why do you have to do stuff for him?"

"He protects and leads Konoha," Kakashi said and it was suddenly much harder to speak; strangely, his throat seemed to be tightening up, like he was coming down with a cold. "It's your dream to be the Hokage, right Naruto-kun?"

"I don't want you to go," Naruto said in a very, very quiet voice.

Kakashi closed his eye. He could still see Father's broad back burned into his mind, his hair pale against the dark green of the flak vest, tantou strapped to his hip, growing smaller and smaller in the distance. "I'm sorry, Naruto," Kakashi said and pulled away, catching Itachi walking towards them from the corner of his eye. "I have to go. Be good and listen to Fugaku-san and Mikoto-san, alright?"

He turned away and forced himself to leave the small boy behind him, forced his legs to move, up and down and away from his most precious person in the world. Two quick heartbeats later and Itachi smoothly joined his side, the younger boy barely reaching his elbow.

"Good luck with your mission, senpai," Itachi said.

"What, no complaints about leaving you back home?" Kakashi tried to joke, but it fell flat- all he could think about was Naruto and Ryou behind him, his two tiny pack members all alone without him.

"I could see the logic of your decisions." Itachi tilted his head. "With Delta Squad away, the Councilman has more control over the Corps. My presence will at least deter him from both acting against the Commander's interests and against Uzumaki-kun. There are also the Clan politics to think of. We are few but growing and my absence will surely result in unrestrained actions by the elders."

"I always did think you were a better genius than me," Kakashi said, tugging at the edge of his hood. "Keep them safe for me, will you?"

"Of course," Itachi said. "If I may be so forward, I would like to request Delta Squad safe return to the village in two months' time. I have grown fond of their presence."

For the first time since Tenzou had dropped by unexpectedly by his window, Kakashi smiled. "How was dango with Tenzou?"

The corner of Itachi's mouth tugged up. "Enjoyable and informative," he said. "I had never realized that so many new varieties of dango existed."

"I can't make any promises," Kakashi said in a quiet voice. "But I'll try my best."

"That's all anyone ever asks for," Itachi said and saluted, fist over his heart. "Good hunting, Captain."

Kakashi tapped his forehead protector lightly, returning Itachi's salute in his own way. "Good hunting, Itachi."

* * *

When Tenzou had knocked on his door, white-faced and looking like he'd done a couple of rounds with Kumo-nin, Genma had been in the middle of revising his will and packing up his possessions, so that it would be easier for the administrators to distribute them to his family. Death and Genma were more than passing acquaintances; he reckoned they were more like neighbors now, with Death swooping past him nearly every day, a reminder of how very little time he had left in the world. Some days, he wondered how he'd even made it out of the Third Shinobi War alive; others, he wondered how made it this far in ANBU alive and with most of his mental faculties intact. But mostly he thanked the gods, his luck and just went on with his job. Today, it seemed like his luck had finally run out. Death was coming for him, whether he wanted it to or not.

"Come in," he said, trusting Tenzou to dodge the various traps and tripwires he'd set up near the entrance. By his reasoning, if you weren't good enough to recognize and avoid them, Genam really had no interest in knowing you.

"Captain-"

Genma looked up and raised an eyebrow. "You look like shit," he said drily.

"I-I met with Kakashi-senpai," Tenzou said, hands clenched tight.

Hell, classified ANBU mission or not, Kakashi was probably near about Tenzou's only family in the world, as pathetic as that sounded. And it was the_Captain _Tenzou was talking to; the man probably forgot more secrets than most people knew in their entire lifetimes.

"Did you give him your goodbyes?" Genma asked kindly and went back to sorting through his photo albums, stacking them up in a box clearly labeled ℅ SHIRANUI FAMILY. His sister would probably need some photos of him to add to the family shrine she had in her house.

"Not exactly," Tenzou said slowly and there was something in the younger man's voice that made Genma look up, senbon twitching in his mouth.

"What do you mean, _not exactly_," Genma said.

"Kakashi-senpai said that you should file form 36B-AZ requesting him and file it with Morita-san right away along with a box of candied ginger. The team is supposed to meet up on the roof of The Rusty Kunai in about two and a half hours, packed for a long term infiltration mission. He would take care of Itachi separately." Tenzou took a deep breath and then swallowed.

Genma blinked. "I'm sorry, did you say form 36B-AZ?"

"Yes," Tenzou said, sounding a touch defensive.

The sneaky _bastard_. Genma whistled, long and low and for the first time since he'd been called before Councilman Danzou's feet, he felt a tiny twinge of hope. "He's having me request him as a non-ANBU special associate specifically for the mission. And he has the clearance rank for it which means-"

"Captain's going to be back on the team?" Tenzou asked, his voice high and hopeful. Genma couldn't fault the kid for calling Captain, _Captain_. Hell, even Genma still thought of Kakashi as Captain; Genma was just filling in temporarily for the man while he was on vacation babysitting the demon brat, probably on the orders of the Hokage.

There was a reason why space on Delta Squad was so coveted, why they were ranked as the best team in the whole of the Corps. They had the _best_mission completion rate with the lowest amount of casualties. Entrance into Delta Squad meant that Captain Hatake, possibly the greatest and strongest ninja in the whole of ANBU, second only to the Commander, thought you had the chops to make it. Entrance into Delta Squad meant you would be going through the toughest, hardest, worst missions and you would come back to the village alive, because Captain Hatake fucking Kakashi never left a man behind.

And Captain coming back meant that Delta Squad might actually survive this crazy shitshow of a mission. Genma waved cheerfully goodbye at his neighbor Death and shoved his box of crap off the desk and propped his feet up instead.

"Let's get that paperwork filed," Genma smiled. "Run out and get me a box of the candy that Morita likes, would you? And let Raidou know that he doesn't have to pack his shit up, because the odds of us coming back alive just went up."

Tenzou smiled, a tiny curve of his lips, and he saluted. "Yes Captain Genma, sir."

"What're you sticking around for?" Genma demanded. "Get out, we've got a mission to prepare for in less than two hours, get your ass moving, rookie."

Tenzou rolled his eyes and made for the window, slipping out with the lithe grace of a cat. Genma wasn't sure whether or not he was imagining the parting shot _Not a damn rookie anymore_ but he pretended not to hear it. Good to hear that the rookie was finally growing a backbone of his own.

* * *

"This," Kakashi said, holding up a sheaf of papers Genma had handed to him. "Is _shit_." A finger sparked with a tiny hot flame of chakra and the stack of papers instantly burst into ashes.

"Shodai's balls," Raidou said, looking deeply impressed. "Intel's gonna have a hissy fit when they see what you did to their information, Captain."

"Assume the worst," Kakashi said dispassionately, wiping his hands clean of the dust. "Danzou gave out the assassination to eliminate my team, he's not going to make it easy for us to complete the mission."

"How're you so sure that Danzou's out to get us?" Genma argued, rocking on his heels, hands shoved into his cloak pockets. "We're the best team in the Corps, maybe he thought we could handle it, sir."

"Danzou personally summons you to assassinate one of the most notorious ninja in the Five Shinobi Nations, and user of a kekkei genkai that's had particularly devastating effects during the Third Shinobi War against Konoha. If any word of this mission leaks out, the treaty between Iwa and Konoha would be broken and all blame of the next war would be pinned on us. If we fail, which is very likely, and we manage to keep Konoha's involvement quiet which is unlikely, Danzou can easily pretend that we were sent out on a different, less politically dangerous assignment. After all," Kakashi said, smiling thinly. "Most ANBU missions leave no paper trace. He can make up whatever he wants, _he's_ a Councilman and we're just pawns in a game."

"But if we come back," Tenzou said slowly, comprehension dawning on his face.

"Danzou's caught between a rock and an angry Konoha nin," Raidou said, his dark eyes looking very amused. "We show up with Gari's head, keep Konoha quiet in this whole mess, maybe implicate some other fuckin' village and everyone congratulates us. Meanwhile, Hokage-sama's mighty pissed at Danzou for fucking around with his private force and giving us such a stupid ass mission."

"Maybe even take a good hard long look at ANBU and stop whatever Danzou's doing to the Corps," Genma said in a surprisingly quiet voice.

"You know?" Kakashi asked, his voice neutral.

"They don't even act human," Raidou said, Tenzou nodding along with him. "How could we not know? And when you left." Raidou shrugged.

"There were more of them," Kakashi continued grimly. "All the more reason we need to successfully complete the mission."

"Yeah, you know, no big deal," Genma drawled, fiddling the senbon in his mouth. "Infiltrate Iwa, kill an insanely talented shinobi without revealing that we're involved, make it out of the village alive, take his body back for T&I and report to the Hokage about what a fucker Danzou was for assigning this shit mission."

"All in a day's work for Delta Squad," Kakashi said and no one on the roof missed the subtle undercurrent of tension in his voice.

"Hey, hey." Raidou raised his hands in the air. "We'll get through this alright, Captain. Just think about how much fun you'll have thinking about fucking with Danzou for the next two months."

"I've already started," Kakashi said quietly. "He won't dare to mess with my team again."

* * *

Sasuke had woken up and it had instantly become the best day in the world ever because Naruto was there, eating breakfast with Aniki and Mama and Father and there was grilled mackerel which was his favoritest in the whole world.

Of course, he had to say good morning in his indoor voice and then eat breakfast quietly but it was so _hard _because Naruto was sitting right next to him and Aniki was home and Sasuke wanted to play more games and show him the gardens near the house where Aniki had built him a cool treehouse in the old maple tree.

"ThankyouforthemealMama," Sasuke blurted out the minute he finished his bowl of rice and dragged Naruto away from the table towards his room.

"Sasuke!"

Sasuke drooped and let go of Naruto's arm, trudging back to the table and hoping that there wouldn't be _another_ lecture about manners and not running in the house again.

"Naruto hasn't finished his meal yet," Father said.

Sasuke looked over at Naruto's bowl and strangely, it was still half-full of rice and fish and it looked like he'd barely touched his miso. That was weird because last night, Naruto had almost had three times the amount Sasuke did and ate nearly half the mochi snacks Mama had given out for dessert. Naruto _loved_ food.

"No, s'okay, Fuguki-san," Naruto said and didn't even flinch when Sasuke jabbed him in the ribs, hissing, "Papa's name's _Fugaku_, dummy."

"You should still eat more," Mama said and she looked worried, like when Aniki was hurt on a mission or sick. Was Naruto sick? Sasuke pressed a hand on Naruto's forehead like Mama did. Naruto did look kind of sad and not at all Naruto-like; even the bright orange shirt he wore made him look all droopy.

"I'm not hungry," Naruto mumbled and he made a little weird frowny face. "Can I go wif Sasuke now?"

"Alright," Father said and Sasuke nearly jumped up and down but he remember his manners and said thank you in his bestest nicest voice.

"Don't make a mess, boys," Father said and Sasuke wasted no time in dragging Naruto away from the dining room and towards his own room. He hurtled down the hallways and slid around on the hardwood floors expertly in his socks and in a few minutes they had made it to his room.

"Woah," Naruto said, crossing his arms over his chest and looking a little brighter than he did before. "That was fun!"

"Me 'n' Aniki do it all the time," Sasuke said smugly. "Aniki calls it sock sliding 'cept we can't tell Mama or Father because they'll yell at us but Aniki can go super fast like _swoooosh_." Sasuke mimed Itachi sliding across the floor with his hand and puffed his chest out proudly when Naruto looked suitably impressed.

"Nii-san and I play a game too with Ryou-chan and-" Naruto's face suddenly crumpled and he started crying, face turning an ugly mottled red.

"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked and put a hand on Naruto's forehead again. Maybe Naruto really _was_ sick and that's why he was here so Mama could help him get better.

"Kakashi-nii has to go away on a mission," Naruto sniffled, voice sounding all clogged up and weird. "And he left me here all alone with only Ryou."

"_Oh_," Sasuke said and grabbed Naruto's hand again, this time heading for the gardens outside. He knew how to fix this.

"Where're we going?" Naruto mumbled, looking vaguely alarmed and excited by the speeds they were sliding around on the floor and within minutes they were out of the house proper and in the gardens, where Mama had planted more of her pretty rose flowers. Sasuke headed straight for the maple tree and scrambled up onto the wooden platform Aniki had built.

"Come on," he called out, leaning over the edge, reaching out with an open hand. Naruto looked scared for a moment, but only for a moment, before he took Sasuke's hand. He clambered up the tree and onto the platform, shaded by brilliant red leaves and carpeted by a worn regulation blanket Itachi had given him.

"Wow," Naruto breathed, his bright blue eyes taking in Sasuke's secret ninja house.

"Whenever Aniki goes 'way, I come up here," Sasuke confided, pulling over a box of old shuriken and kunai he'd collected from the forest, the edges all blunted and rusty. "We made it together and I play up here all the time with him."

"Itachi's a ninja too?" Naruto asked curiously, scrunching his face up and his face whiskers got all scrunched up too.

"He's a _chuunin_," Sasuke said and rolled his eyes. Honestly, Naruto could be such an idiot sometimes. "That means he's super strong and good and he's only eleven."

"Eleven's old," Naruto said disgustedly. "And Kakashi-nii-san's _twenty_."

Sasuke frowned. "That's like super old! He's a ninja too, innit he? What rank is he?"

Naruto scratched his head. "I- eheh- don't know," he admitted. "But I know that he's super strong and everything and he's a great ninja, yeah!"

Yeah, Naruto was definitely a dumbo. "He's gonna come back from the mission," Sasuke said confidently. "He and Aniki are great ninja so he'll come back so stop worrying."

"Yeah, he's gonna come back," Naruto echoed and smiled so wide his eyes turned into tiny little lines.

"So, whatcha wanna play?" Sasuke asked, sorting through his box of super shinobi tools. "We can practice with our weapons or we could play tag and we can mebbe visit Mariko-oba about-"

Itachi dropped onto the platform, a cloud of red maple leaves swirling around him. Sasuke dropped his box and went straight for Itachi's knees, whooping with joy. "Aniki!"

Itachi did that stupid poking thing but Sasuke was too happy to see his brother to care too much. Now that Itachi and Naruto were here they could play ninjas and pirates and maybe Itachi could take them training and then later they could all have okonomiyaki from Kenichi-san's shop.

"Kakashi-senpai left behind something I think the two of you would enjoy." Itachi pulled something out of his pocket and Sasuke zeroed in on the stack of papers he was holding.

"Exploding ink papers," Naruto breathed and Sasuke looked at his friend with wide eyes. "Like yesterday?"

Itachi nodded and ruffled Naruto's hair too even though he was _Sasuke's_ aniki but since Kakashi-nii-san was away Itachi could be Naruto's aniki for a little bit too. Maybe.

"YATTA!" Naruto bellowed and charged into Sasuke and Itachi and somehow aniki picked up the two of them up from the ground and swung them around in a giant circle. This, Sasuke firmly believed, was the bestest day in the whole world _ever_.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

* * *

It was supposed to have been a normal C-Ranked escort mission. Takahari-sensei had let them _finally _leave Kumo and take on a mission guarding some merchants on their way to Earth Country after a whole six months of nothing but D-Ranked mission involving the daimyo's wife's missing cat. It was supposed to have a been an easy job. Bandits were at an all time low, peace with Konoha was still holding and Takahari-sensei said the only rogue samurai stupid enough to take on a jounin from Kumo were the ones that were especially easy to kill.

They weren't supposed to encounter much trouble. Maybe a thief here and there or a broken cart wheel. It was supposed to be a safe, easy mission. One moment, Megumi had been arguing with her teammate about the order of the watches they would take for the night. The next, a rusty dagger sprouted from her chest. She touched the handle with a shaky hand, slick with her own blood.

Megumi looked up and met the hungry gaze of a demon, red eye seeping with blood. She didn't even have time to scream before he went for her throat.

* * *

Dredging chakra up from hidden reserves, Kakashi twisted his bloody hands into a swift series of seals, converting the vapor in the air into water. Steam rose all around him, hot and swirling in fantastic shapes, before coiling up around the corpses lying on the ground and coalescing into messy puddles of water.

Tenzou looked up from where he was scattering old and rusty senbon on the ground, occasionally tossing a few over his shoulder in the general direction of the bodies. "I haven't seen that one before," he asked, voice intrigued.

Kakashi shrugged. He'd picked it up in a solo mission in Water Country after Team Seven had split, leaving him a waist high stack of S-Ranked missions Tsunade wanted completed and no particular self-preservation instinct. "Have to make it look as real as possible," he said casually. "We _are_supposed to make it look like a missing-nin from Kiri did this."

"These look familiar," Genma said, rifling through a worn leather pouch, picking out several shuriken and kunai with a keen eye. "Definitely the real thing from Kiri, they even have the canoe stamped onto it and everything. Old, which is even better."

"Yamanaka was very obliging when I went to him for some supplies. We're using Kakeru's weapons." Kakashi rolled his shoulders and cracked his knuckles, feeling the ache of chakra exhaustion already settle deep into his bones. His body wasn't used to the strain he put on his thirty year old self- his chakra reserves were half the size of the ones he was normally comfortable with.

"Useful," Tenzou commented but the sidelong look he sent Kakashi's way spoke volumes more. Little brat was probably worried he was going to keel over any minute, like he was just some green chuunin who hadn't even broken in his flak vest and keeled over from exhaustion on his first B-Rank mission.

"Very," Kakashi agreed and made sure to straighten his back.

"Merchants are all tied up," Raidou said, dropping from a tree branch without a sound. "Genjutsu's got them all addled and I've got them hanging from a twenty footer, they'll have a shock when they wake up."

"I'll take care of them," Kakashi said and ignored the incredulous look Genma shot his way. "Just finish the bodies, we don't want Kumo coming after us along with Iwa."

"Mission's barely even started and you're already half dead on your feet, Captain," Genma said, stooping carefully over one of the Kumo genin, wrapping a thread of wire around her neck and pulling tight. Kakashi looked away, stomach clenching.

"Just finish the job," he said curtly and melted away into the shadows. It was, Kakashi reflected quietly, going to be a very long two months away from his pack.

* * *

Even before the name, it was the chakra signature that gave him away. Kushina had the same boundless energy, a beautiful blue flame spiralling throughout her stomach, protecting the village just by existing. A much smaller and excited version of it bobbed its way through her house and Mikoto smiled, glad that some form of her friend still lived on.

"Yes, Naruto-chan?" Mikoto asked and put down her sewing, enjoying the way his chakra spiked in surprise.

"How'd you know it was me? Kakashi-nii-san and Tenzou always know but that's cause they're ninja. Are you a ninja too, Mikoto-san?" Naruto's eyes were all his father's, bright and glowing with curiosity.

"I'm a mother," Mikoto said quietly and reached out, cupping Naruto's face gently. "We always know. Now, what is it? Do you need something from me?"

The little boy's face scrunched up, whiskers crinkling and he idly drew patterns on the floor with a foot. "Erm, well, I- I-erm. IpromisedSakuraIwouldplaywit hhertoday," he blurted out in one long breath, face going red.

Raising two boys and watching countless other Uchiha babies gave Mikoto long practice at discerning the language of six year olds. "Sakura?" Mikoto asked. "Is she a friend from school?"

Naruto nodded enthusiastically and he broke out into a blinding smile. "We practice kunai throwing and stuff and we played with Ryou-chan and she comes over lots but then I promised to play with her today, but now Kakashi-nii isn't here but I still want to play and with Sasuke too."

Mikoto considered Naruto's request gravely. "Do you know where she lives?"

Naruto shook his head, blond hair flying with the motion. "Nuh uh," he said, his smile drooping a little. "Kakashi-nii-san knows and he walks us over to drop her off but I forgot where."

Itachi had been born a wise old man in the body of a baby and had left her side after what seemed like only heartbeat. He was only eleven and already a member of ANBU and a rapidly rising chuunin. Sasuke was already six and soon would be leaving her for the Academy and a world where children were taught how to kill on command. But around Naruto, her children softened and seemed more like their age, laughing and playing, forgetting about the cares of the world, if only for a moment. Mikoto felt a deep shame well up in the bottom of her chest- a good friend she had been, abandoning her friend's child to the streets, conveniently forgetting that the demon brat had the eyes of the Yondaime and the bright life of her best friend. It'd been easier to think of Kushina's baby as lost, killed at the same time as his parents.

Not for the first time, Mikoto quietly blessed Kakashi and the good fortune that brought him and the Uchiha together. "I think I can fix that," Mikoto said finally and stood up, brushing the dust off her knees. "Would you do me a favor and go get ready with Sasuke-chan?"

"We're gonna to go out!" Naruto cheered, bouncing up and down on his feet.

"It's chilly outside, so don't forget your jackets," Mikoto smiled and brushed her hand through Naruto's hair.

Naruto beamed up at her and grabbed at her wrist with his tiny hands, his skin immeasurably warm and soft. "You're the best, Mikoto-san," he said, blue eyes turning into happy slits.

Mikoto's breath caught in her throat and she blinked back hot tears. "Why-" Mikoto paused and swallowed, straining for the Uchiha calm that her Mother had drilled into her since her birth. "Why don't you call me oba-san instead, Naruto-chan?"

"Like-" Naruto looked up at her, still clinging to her arm with those small hands, his eyes looking impossibly big in his face. "Like family?" he asked, his voice a very small whisper.

"You already have a brother," Mikoto said, her voice cracking a little. "And a senpai. I think it's time you had an aunt, don't you?"

"I'd like that," Naruto said in that tiny voice. "Mikoto-oba-san."

Mikoto fell to her knees and drew his tiny body close to her chest, her arms circling around his skinny shoulders. A large damp spot grew on the front of her apron but she hardly noticed, pressing a soft kiss on Naruto's crown. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," she wept, crying for her dead friends and the boy she'd thought lost, come back to life and safe in her arms.

"Dun' cry, Mikoto-oba," Naruto sniffled, wiping back his own tears and snot with the sleeve of his grubby shirt. "Dun' be sad."

"I'm not sad," Mikoto corrected him gently and wiped Naruto's face with the hem of her clean apron, brushing his hair back from his face. "I'm crying because I'm happy that you're here."

"No one's ever cried for me before," Naruto said and touched Mikoto's wet face with a cautious hand, as if afraid that this were all a dream. "They jus' throw stuff and shout and stuff."

"Not anymore," Mikoto promised fiercely. "Not while I'm around."

* * *

When the doorbell rang, Sakura dropped her book and flew out of her room, clattering down the stairs at a speed even Naruto would have been impressed with.

"No running in the house!" Mama shouted but Sakura was already at the door, tugging impatiently at the deadbolt that was just a few inches out of her reach.

"We need to check who's here first," Mama reminded her and she peeked through the tiny seeing-hole in the top of the door, ignoring Sakura's pout.

"Oh- is- is Hatake-san married?" Mama asked as she squinted into the tiny hole, brushing her dark hair back from her face.

"No," Sakura muttered sulkily, kicking at the door with her foot. "Course not, he's Kakashi-nii-san, he's not old _old_ and stuff."

"Strange," Mama muttered but she unlocked the door and when it opened Sakura launched herself face-first, colliding with her best friend in the whole entire world.

"OW!"

Sakura wondered when Naruto had changed his hair color to black and when his eyes had changed and then realized-

"You're not Naruto!" she shouted and then blushed, scrambling off of the not-Naruto she'd knocked onto the ground.

"What are ya, blind?" Naruto laughed, right next to her and Sakura was _so_ tempted to punch him but Mama was standing right next to her and she was probably already mad about her pushing the not-Naruto onto the ground.

"I'm not blind," Sakura said instead and stuck her tongue out and then Mama put her hand on Sakura's shoulder and she didn't sound very happy at_all_.

"I'm so sorry," Mama said in that grown-up voice and she bowed very deeply. "I thought I had raised my daughter to be better than this, but it seems that I still have much to teach her. You have my sincerest apologies, ma'am."

"Oh, there was no harm done," a pretty lady next to Naruto laughed, covering up her mouth with her hand like Mama always told Sakura to do and she bowed as well. She had the prettiest black hair and the biggest eyes and she looked like one of the beautiful ladies in Mama's magazines who were always making flower vases.

"I'm Sasuke," not-Naruto sniffed, picking himself off the ground and sticking his nose up in the air like Ami whenever she had a new doll and wanted to show it off. "And I bet you can't even see at all if you think I look like _him_."

"Sasuke!" the pretty lady said in a grown-up voice and then bowed again. "My apologies, Haruno-san, it seems my son has manners to learn as well. Hatake Kakashi asked us to look after Naruto while he was away for a mission and Naruto-chan mentioned that there was a play date arranged beforehand. I hope you don't mind that my son is here as well, Haruno-san."

"Oh no!" Mama hand tightened on her shoulder and she opened the door wider. "Of course not..."

"Uchiha Mikoto," the pretty lady smiled and Sakura's heart thudded in her chest. An _Uchiha!_ They were one of the big super strong ninja clans in the village and they had the best shinobi and lots of them were in the police too! Sakura had seen them around in the market and when Sakura was a baby, her Papa always said that bad girls were taken away by the big scary Uchiha policemen.

"O-oh, Uchiha-san, please come in, oh my goodness," Mama fluttered and she stepped back from the door, dragging Sakura in as she ushered in mean not-Naruto-Sasuke, Naruto and pretty Uchiha-san. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to make you wait outside and of course, you must stay for tea while the children play in the yard outside."

"It was no trouble," the nice Uchiha lady said and every move she made looked so airy and gentle, like she was one of those angels from the TV dramas Mama watched when Sakura had her snack-time after school. "You have a beautiful home."

Mama went all pink and she bowed again. "Oh, the place is a mess, we've only moved here a few months ago for my husband's job and I still haven't properly unpacked."

Sakura fidgeted impatiently while Uchiha-san and Naruto and not-Naruto-Sasuke put on their house shoes.

"Can we go now?" she whispered tugging on Mama's dress. "Please, Mama, please please please?"

"Not now!" Mama whispered back, looking very fierce and stern. "We have very important guests here."

"I'm sure the children are would rather play instead," Uchiha-san said very kindly and Sakura blushed- Mama would be so mad that the lady heard her say rude stuff! "I'm sure they don't want to listen to their mothers drink tea and gossip about the village."

"Oh well, if you think so," Mama said a little uncertainly. "Only in the yard, you mustn't go anywhere else and straight back inside when I call for you."

"Thank you Mama!" Sakura beamed and raced over to Naruto's side, scooping up his ninja sandals with one hand and her playing shoes with the other. "We'll be extra _extra_ good," she promised. "Follow me," she said importantly to Naruto and not-Naruto-Sasuke and made sure to walk to the back of the house extra slowly and carefully so Mama didn't have to yell at her for running in the house.

"You do have a nice house!" Naruto said, looking very impressed at the paintings on the walls that Papa had made and the new squeaky hardwood floors.

"S'not as nice as _my _house," not-Naruto-Sasuke said in that stupid Ami voice and Sakura wanted to stomp on his foot but she was a little too scared to. Thankfully, she had Naruto, who promptly punched not-Naruto-Sasuke for her.

"Don't be stupid Sasuke," Naruto said, hands on his hips. "Sakura's my friend so stop being mean to her."

"Whatever," not-Naruto said but Sakura couldn't stop smiling as she lead them to the yard door in the back of the house.

"House shoes go here," she pointed at the mat in front of the glass sliding doors. "And we can put on our playing shoes in the yard."

"Alright!" Naruto pumped his fist. "Wait til you see the cool new toy Kakashi-nii-san made, it's the bestest game in the world ever!"

"It's not a toy, it's 'sploding seals," not-Naruto said but even he sounded excited when he pulled on his own ninja sandals.

"Like chakra exploding tags?" Sakura asked, trying to ignore how both Naruto _and_ Sasuke had ninja sandals and how she was the only one who had dumb normal shoes. "I read about them, I thought only ninja could use them?"

"You'll see," Naruto said secretively and pulled open the door.

* * *

It was just like tag but _better_.

It was like tag and shougi and ninjas and pirates all wrapped into one giant ink sploding game and Sakura loved it. She pulled a tag out of her pocket and slammed it down on the ground, smearing the release mark with a finger. An entire cloud of black smoke exploded in front of her and Sakura dove away, enjoying the way Naruto shrieked like a little baby and Sasuke shouted that he was going to hurt her.

Now it was just a waiting game. Sakura sat on the edge of the smoke cloud and listened to the shouting, tag in hand. Naruto was still coughing and shouting in the middle but it sounded like Sasuke was pushing his way out to the edge. He'd gone all quiet but Sakura could hear coughing sounds coming from her left.

She stood up, pulled out her last tag from her pocket and waited for Sasuke to come out of the cloud of inky smoke. The look on his face when she slapped the tag onto his forehead was something, Sakura decided, she would never ever forget.

* * *

"You're pretty ok for a _girl_," Sasuke said a little grudgingly, munching on a cookie Mama had made for yesterday's snack time.

"She's more than ok!" Naruto said, spraying crumbs everywhere as he spoke. "Sakura-chan knows _everything_ and she's the coolest cause we're friends!"

Sakura nibbled on her cookie and quietly thought that Sasuke was ok too, even if he sounded like Ami sometimes but he was Naruto's friend too. "If we're both Naruto's friends," she said a little tentatively. "Maybe we could be friends too?"

Sasuke looked up from his cookie. "I guess," he said and Sakura beamed at him.

"I have two friends now," Naruto said and he rubbed at his eyes with the back of his hand. "I've never had so many friends before." His voice was all wobbly and squeaky like he was gonna cry.

Sakura swallowed. "Me neither," she said in a very quiet voice. Before Naruto, no one had liked her very much, calling her stupid names about her forehead and always ripping up her books. Now, she had play dates and at school she got to sit next to a friend and share lunch and talk about how boring class was. Now, she could play cool ninja games and meet new friends, new people.

Sasuke looked away and shoved a cookie in his mouth. "I have my aniki and cousins and stuff," he mumbled.

"That's family. You have a Mama and a Papa and brothers and stuff but that's different," Sakura said instantly. "We're _friends_."

"Best friends," Naruto said solemnly and stuck his hand out. Sakura put her hand on top of it like in the cartoon she'd seen on TV with the samurai warrior rangers. After a moment, Sasuke put his hand on top of that and they all grinned at each other.

"We hafta promise to help each other out and stuff because that's what friends do," Naruto said in a serious voice. "Like we're family for each other."

"I promise," Sasuke said and Sakura almost jumped, surprised that he had spoken up first. That meant Sasuke would help her out too and so would Naruto and she would have to do the same. Sakura closed her eyes and remembered how Naruto had punched Ami in the face and helped her up from the ground.

"I promise too," Sakura said firmly. "I'll hurt anyone whoever tries to make fun of you guys," she said, trying to make her voice as fierce and strong as possible.

"It's the promise of a lifetime!" Naruto shouted and dove at the two of them, bulldozing them into the ground with his hug.

"Get off me stupid!" Sasuke shouted but he didn't bother to push Naruto off and Sakura laughed, her chest filling up with so much happiness that she thought she was going to explode like one of the 'sploding seal tags.

* * *

"You look...not like you," Tenzou said, tilting his head like a bird.

"I think that's the whole point of going incognito," Kakashi said drily and accepted the towel the younger man handed him, rubbing his dyed hair briskly. He'd substituted his headband (safely sealed away in a containment scroll, along with his uniform and ninjato) with an eyepatch, chakra seal sewed onto the inside to mask the presence of his Sharingan. The borrowed merchant's clothes fit oddly, too short at the leg and too broad at the shoulders but it couldn't be helped for now. He'd have to ask Raidou to do some mending later that night.

Tenzou had combed out his scruffy brown hair, parting it neatly at the side. In a pair of slacks and a loose-fitting Lightning shirt, he looked like any ordinary teenaged boy, following his older brother into the family business.

"Relax your stance," Kakashi said and tossed the towel back at him, streaks of brown liberally covering it. "You're supposed to be a civilian, not a killer."

Tenzou caught it handily, eyes narrowing a little. "You're one to talk, Captain."

Kakashi shrugged bonelessly and strolled over to the campfire, giving Genma and Raidou approving nods. They were lounging casually on the sleeping bags they'd taken from the merchants, dressed as his cousin and manservant respectively.

"Gruel's almost done, sir," Raidou said, straightening up a little as Kakashi settled on his haunches next to him, warming his cold hands up in front of the fire. "Saved it before the idiot over there overcooked it because he was too busy braiding his hair into a fancy tail."

"Some of us were blessed with good looks," Genma grinned, looking strange without his customary senbon dangling from his lips. "It's only right that I should take the time to make myself look good."

"Travel papers?" Kakashi said, flexing his fingers and running them through warm up exercises. His sealing speed was disgustingly slow compared to where he'd had it beforehand. It took him a good minute to work through the entire sequence and he bit back a scowl. Without a mask to cover his expressions he'd have to be more careful about what he let show on his face. Resisting the urge to pull up his neckline and press his chin into his chest, he repeated the sequences, over and over again.

"All doctored up to match our faces. You're looking at a new man," Raidou said, watching Kakashi's hands with mild interest. "Sato Kenichi at your service, master."

"Watanabe Riku," Genma put in lazily. "Your experienced and much more handsome older cousin, guiding you in the fine Watanabe tradition of selling Lightning Country textiles."

"Watanabe Ryou," Tenzou said quietly, settling himself down next to Genma. "I believe that I'm to be your younger brother, Captain."

"Which leaves me Watanabe Ichirou," Kakashi concluded, hands automatically working through the seals for _Chidori_. He stopped mid-sequence and forced himself to switch to a different jutsu. _Chidori_ left a distinctive mark- it was associated with Konoha's ANBU and would just be another clue that would implicate the village. Doton justus would be safer.

"The merchants have been taken care of," Tenzou said, face shadowed.

"Good," Kakashi breathed out, long and slow. "We'll have a good week of travel ahead of us before we hit one of the border posts and ask them for entrance into Iwa. It should give us more than enough time to adjust to our cover and gather intel on the mark. Jutsu use is forbidden from here on out until we hit the village unless it's an emergency."

Tenzou opened his mouth but Kakashi shook his head. "Especially you. Mokuton's a dead giveaway for Konoha. Besides, it's been high time that you learned how to act like a civilian."

"I know the basics," Tenzou said stiffly and Raidou barked out a rough laugh.

"Kid," Raidou wheezed, "that shit they teach in the Academy is worth next to nothing. Masking your chakra's fine and easy enough, but you've gotta work on your stance, your reflexes. Gotta walk the walk, talk the talk and pray that some ninja doesn't figure out that you're actually more than what you seem."

"It doesn't matter if you're more powerful or if you can beat him in a fight." Genma's mouth twitched, like he was chewing on an invisible senbon. "Your life isn't at stake here- the integrity of the mission is. One person knows and the entire treaty between Iwa and Konoha goes up in _flames_."

"I can do this," Tenzou said stubbornly.

"Of course _we_ can," Genma grinned. "Who the hell do you think we are?"

"Only the best squad in the entire Corps," Raidou chimed in, right on cue. "Delta Squad, captained by the finest operative to ever serve the village."

"Me," Kakashi said, deadpan.

There was a very long silence as all three of his subordinates stared at Kakashi, identical looks of terror on their faces.

"What?" he asked, fighting the urge to cover his face with his hands. He could smell their fear and- apprehension?

"You- you just made a joke, sir," Genma said feebly, the only one brave or stupid enough to speak up.

"You never make jokes," Raidou said faintly. "You tell _us_ to stop joking, sir."

Kakashi tucked his chin into his chest. It was amazing what a difference ten years would make. He'd forgotten how much he'd changed after leaving the Corps, leaving behind the bone-white armor and mask and taking up the traditional flak vest and erotic literature. Twenty year old Kakashi knew nothing but the mission and long hours at the Memorial, bowed down by the weight of old ghosts and a crushing guilt. He'd kept his teammates at a careful distance, his heart too tattered and his mind too afraid to handle another Obito or Rin. It was only when he'd _left_ that Kakashi had gotten to know all three of his former teammates better.

"I guess you just haven't been listening hard enough," Kakashi said and resolved to be a better Captain, this time around.

"Another one," Raidou said and what little color was in his cheeks instantly disappeared.

"You don't look surprised," Genma said shrewdly, looking pointedly at Tenzou, who looked a little alarmed at the sudden attention.

"Er," Tenzou said and gave Kakashi a quick and panicky look. Kakashi happily ignored it and threw his precious little kouhai to the sharks.

"Captain's had a peaceful retirement?" Tenzou said quickly, sounding more like he was asking Genma than answering him. "Maybe he's taken up telling jokes as a hobby."

"I thought I'd try new things in my old age," Kakashi threw in and Tenzou looked at him gratefully.

"Speaking of new things and retirement," Genma said eagerly. "Rumor is you've gotten domestic, Captain."

Kakashi bit back a groan. He should have known the ANBU rumor mill would have had a field day with his decision to take on Naruto as his ward.

"New things, new hobbies," he muttered vaguely. "He's a good boy."

"Never thought of you as a parental figure," Raidou said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "He's _that_ boy, isn't he?"

"So what if he is?" Tenzou said a little vehemently and Kakashi looked at the younger boy, eye widening a little. It seemed Naruto, even at the tender age of six, had managed to work his friendship magic over Tenzou as well. "He's a good kid and he doesn't deserve what the villagers are saying about him. The Yondaime chose him to save the village."

"Yeah, by holding a demonic force in his stomach that killed hundreds of shinobi," Genma muttered. "Look, I know it's not the kid's fault but-" He shrugged. "Still makes me uncomfortable as hell to think about."

"Naruto isn't the kyuubi," Tenzou said firmly and Kakashi couldn't help the smile that spread across his face the pride that welled up in his chest. He had a good pack.

"Why'd you leave him anyway?" Raidou asked, eyes keen. "I mean, you did adopt him, right? And you're technically off ANBU active duty rosters."

Kakashi considered Raidou's question for a long moment, staring at the flickering embers of the campfire. Why _had_ he come? There was the possibility that the team would succeed without him, however slim. True enough, Danzou had done this to remove ANBU of his influence, no doubt scared by Kakashi's sudden entrance into the Council and his alliance with the Uchiha. But he could have started again, even without Delta Squad. There was still the Commander and Uzuki's squad and a couple other that he could trust. It would have been hard and no doubt ROOT would grow to fill Delta's absence, but it was still possible to fight Danzou. By leaving the village, he'd taken himself out of the Council, had left Naruto at the mercy of a man who was busy planning a coup against the Hokage and sent himself to Iwa on a potentially lethal mission all on a gamble that the completed mission would mean leverage over a power-crazed Councilman. If it worked (of which there was a very tiny chance, but still larger than if his team had gone without him), it would mean that he had concrete evidence to present to the Council and the Hokage against Danzou. If it didn't, Konoha would be at war and Danzou would gain more power.

"Because you're my team," Kakashi said. "And Danzou's not going to send you on a suicidal mission without me to save your collective asses."

Kakashi looked at the three hardened faces before him and accepted that they'd been pack from the very beginning- not Obito, not Rin, not sensei, but still pack. He'd have to trust that Team 7 would be alright without him and concentrate on the people in front of him.

"You know," Raidou said, his voice a little rough. "I think that's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me."

"Wow, you've lead a pretty pathetic life, Raidou," Genma said, punching his teammate's shoulder but even he looked a little sentimental.

"I'd have to agree," Tenzou said, his voice soft but when he looked up at Kakashi, his dark eyes were proud.

Kakashi looked away, his chest tightening. He'd bring them all back alive, no matter what. He'd promised himself that he would.

* * *

"Read me that list over again and slowly," Sarutobi said slowly, his tone brooking no dissent. "The active duty roster, subsection C."

"Yes, sir," the chuunin said -his name was Ren, Saurtobi believed, doing his time in the administrative bureau while his ribs healed from the last B-Ranked mission he took outside the country. A good boy, his parents ran a wonderful ramen shop on Main Street.

"Yamamoto Hanako, Jin, Uzuki Yuugao, Shiranui Genma, Namiashi Raidou, Suzuki Saburou, Sato Kaede, Hatake Kakashi-"

"You may stop." Sarutobi threaded his fingers together and frowned. "Why is Hatake Kakashi on the active duty roster?"

Ren adjusted his spectacles and squinted at the scroll he held up into the light. "I believe it says here-" The chuunin frowned. "The notation has him on a classified mission, sir. Should I pull up his file for you, Hokage-sama?"

"Please," Sarutobi said and watched the chuunin bustle out of his office, scroll tucked into the crook of his elbow. What, exactly, was Hatake Kakashi doing outside of the country on a classified mission when he was supposed to be looking after Uzumaki Naruto? Sarutobi considered his options. On a classified mission outside the country- the mission would certainly come straight from his desk and he didn't recall debriefing Kakashi-kun for one. And any request for extra personnel would have to be approved him personally as well.

Which meant-

Sarutobi pulled out his pipe and lit it with a snap of his fingers, breathing in deeply, smoke filling up his chest. Danzou was meddling again. From the sound of it, Delta Squad was deployed for service out of the country, no doubt on an assassination mission. If Kakashi had followed his team and left the country, defying direct orders from the Hokage...

Ren returned with a slim file in hand, looking slightly pained as a cloud of smoke floated towards him. "I've brought the most recent one, Hokage-sama. It seemed prudent considering his files take up an entire cabinet."

"Very prudent," Sarutobi agreed and accepted the file. "You may leave now, Ren-san. We shall finish the roster arrangements later."

A quick bow and murmured thanks later, Sarutobi was left alone with his thoughts, young Kakashi's file and his pipe. Flipping it open with wrinkled hands, he considered the innocent looking paper on top; it was a copy of a processed request of form 36B-AZ, requesting Kakashi for a classified mission, with nearly everything but Kakashi's name and the date blocked out by the censors.

It was dated three days ago.

The only time form 36B-AZ was ever used was in conjunction with ANBU. Sarutobi leaned back in his chair and gripped the stem of his pipe with his teeth, blowing out a stream of smoke from his nose.

Hatake Kakashi was out of the country on a classified mission. He was requested as a special non-ANBU associate. He was most likely travelling with Delta Squad. He had left Naruto in the village. Delta Squad was out of the country on a mission he had no knowledge, which meant that the Commander or Danzou had authorized it, but Arakaki always made sure to update him on any missions his Corps was sent out on. Which, logically, left Danzou.

Sarutobi didn't very much like the way the pieces were falling together. He rubbed his temples with weary hands and silently cursed Minato for being a foolhardy self-sacrificing heroic Hokage. Some days, it helped with the headaches. Today, it seemed, even cursing his dead successor's name would be no help.

Orochimaru. Danzou. Naruto.

Some days, it seemed like his mistakes were all he could ever think about. He thought he was teaching a prodigy, his successor, his son. Instead, it turned out he was teaching his prize student how to be a mass murderer and a traitor. He'd let ROOT grow wild during the Third Shinobi War, too busy trying to win a war; when it'd ended he thought he'd stamped it out but Danzou was too clever, moving his operatives deeper into the shadows. And now Kakashi was caught in that tangled mess, sent out on a mysterious mission with his team, far outside of the safety of the village.

Away from Naruto.

He should have known that Danzou would have been upset with Kakashi's introduction into the Council. Sarutobi opened his eyes and flared his chakra. Within moments a guard materialized in front of him, kneeling in a formal salute.

"Find out where Uzumaki Naruto is staying in the village. Observe but do not intrude unless he is in danger. Report back to me as soon as possible."

The guard nodded deeply and disappeared into the shadows.

Sarutobi put his pipe down on his desk and sighed. He was getting too damned old for this.

* * *

At the knock on the door, the entire room started, Sharingan flashing in a few faces. Aya was bristling with kunai while Shisui was already forming seals to cloak the entire room in a heavy genjutsu. Itachi raised a hand and cocked his head, checking the presence hovering right outside the room.

"Hold," he said calmly. He stood up from the table and made his way over to the door, the tomoe of his Sharingan swirling lazily. He opened the door and bowed deeply, ponytail swinging with the motion.

"Hello, Mother," Itachi said.

Uchiha Mikoto smiled. "I'm sorry for scaring you," she said gently. "But I didn't want to give away my presence."

"It was well thought of you," Itachi returned and stood aside to let his mother into the cramped room, letting everyone see his deactivated eyes.

"Mikoto-oba-san," Shisui said, standing up cautiously. Itachi noted that he had released his prepared genjutsu, chakra flowing normally. "I didn't realize- that-" Shisui stopped and swallowed.

"I am a little old," his Mother agreed and she made her way into a corner of the room, settling down next to Aya gracefully. "I'm sorry dear, but there's hardly enough room to breathe in here."

"P-please, Mikoto-sama," Aya stammered and gave up her cushion for older lady, kunai long forgotten.

The average age of the shinobi in this room was, Itachi admitted, very young, with Itachi himself at the youngest and Kaede the oldest at the age of twenty-three.

"I don't mean to be rude, Mikoto-sama, but-" Kenji swallowed, looking nervous. He was a civilian and had less training to hide his emotions. "Do- do they know?"

"Oh no," Mother said serenely. "You've been very careful, keeping quiet and changing meeting times and places like this. It took me awhile to see to follow Itachi-kun, what with all the false trails and doubling back he did."

"How did you know?" Itachi asked, sitting back down at his place again.

"You're my son," Mother said and reached out to pat Itachi's hand. "How could I not know that you're working on a seditious plan to go against the elders and your father? I just thought it was time that I joined you. Not all of us old people like the plan, you know."

"But the Clan Head's word is law," Shisui said quietly. "We could rightly be tried and executed under clan law or stripped of our name and heritage."

"I know," Mother said quietly. "But I can no longer watch and see this continue. It will ruin the Uchiha and it will ruin the village. I will not have Sasuke grow up in a world where the Uchiha have ruined the village." Or not grow up at all, executed by the Council for associating with a treasonous clan. "We've been entrusted with the care of Uzumaki Naruto," Mother continued and there were gasps all around the room.

"But- but he's-" Aya breathed in sharply.

"The container for the kyuubi," Itachi said calmly. "A six year old boy chosen by the Yondaime Hokage who has a demon sealed inside of him to protect the village."

"It is an _honor _to care for him," Mother said firmly. "Without him, the village would be but ash in the wind and we dishonor the Yondaime's sacrifice to think otherwise. And he's also a very sweet boy."

"And the Hokage trusts _us_, the Uchiha, with him?" Shisui asked, raising an eyebrow. "As I recall, many blamed us for the attack, accusing us of controlling the fox into attacking Konoha."

"Hatake Kakashi does," Kaede put in and the room instantly quieted. "I was standing guard on the day they came for dinner with Fugaku-sama."

"So the rumors _are_ true," Kenji said, brow furrowed. "Hatake-san has taken custody of the boy and reclaimed his seat on the Council."

"It does mean that the Clan will be under greater scrutiny than before," Itachi realized, the gears in his mind whirring. Kakashi-senpai was _very _clever. "It's a test."

"If we can use this time to show the Council and the Hokage what the village means to the Uchiha," Mother said quietly, "perhaps the elders and my husband will also realize what the Uchiha means to the village. Already Hatake has moved to show that it stands with the Uchiha against Danzou."

"We don't have much time," Shisui said grimly, hands clenched into tight fists. "The elders are growing restless and angry."

"Then we'll just have to work harder," Aya put in, her voice determined. "We have to save the clan."

"Amaterasu bless us and give us strength," Mother prayed, hands clasped together in her lap. Itachi silently made his own prayers to the goddess: _Amaterasu, this lowly one begs this of you—keep my brother safe._


	7. Chapter 7

"_The moon has come out _

_Oh, the moon has come out, heave ho_

_Over the coal mine the moon hath come out_."

Ichirou idly scratched his nose, head instinctively bobbing along to the song Kenichi was singing in his deep baritone. The man had a good voice and his company was not bad on the road; his sword arm even better during the long nights.

"I didn't know K-Kenichi-san could sing," Ryou said in a queer sort of voice, his dark eyes pensive.

Ichirou rolled his eyes at his younger brother and elbowed him in the ribs. "You've heard him around the warehouse, helping Father move and guard the silk from Tea Country. Oh wait- I forgot, you're always hiding out in your room with the latest book from Kojiro's!"

"Nothing wrong with reading a good book or two," Ryou muttered, rubbing his side with exaggerated motion. "Besides, I have to make up for all the books you and Riku-kun don't read."

"I read and help Mother with the accounts and that's enough book-reading for any man," Ichirou grinned and flicked Ryou's forehead. "Be grateful you're the second son, brat."

"Nii-san!" Ryou squirmed as he slid on the precarious edge of the wagon, feet dangling dangerously close to the moving dirt path below them.

"Stop teasing the baby, Ichi," Riku's lazy voice floated towards the back. "I don't want to explain to Auntie how I came to lose my little baby cousin on his first big boy trip outside the village."

"I'm fifteen!" Ryou said indignantly.

"An ickle wee bairn," Ichirou agreed and easily dodged Ryou's punch aimed at his shoulder. "Gotta be quicker than that, bratling."

"Halt!"

The wagon slowly creaked to a stop, old Jin stomping her feet and shaking the reins Riku held in his hands. Ichirou scrambled off the edge of the wagon and grabbed the leather satchel at his side, racing towards the front where Riku was swinging down from the saddle.

"Where's the voice coming from?" Ryou whispered at Ichirou's elbow as Riku dug through the satchel and pulled out a carefully wrapped packet in oilcloth.

"Shinobi," Ichirou whispered back and watched Ryou's dark eyes widen.

"State your name and purpose," the voice echoed, bouncing off the walls of the rock canyon and turning into an entire chorus of questions.

Ever-confident Riku's voice shook a little as he answered. "Watanabe Riku, of Watanabe Textiles, shinobi-san. We come to beg entrance to Iwagakure."

There was a long silence; reassuringly Kenichi appeared behind Ryou, his tall, broad frame dwarfing his little brother and admittedly, Ichriou's own. He was about to open his mouth to reassure Ryou, when the shinobi-san appeared.

In the span between one heartbeat and another, a man simply grew out of the ground in front of Riku. There was no other word for it. Ichirou had only ever seen shinobi a few times before, when he followed Father to Kumogakure, but no ninja he had ever seen had simply risen from the ground, like a boulder rising from the earth. He even looked like a rock, covered in a dusty brown chest plate, with long one cotton sleeve of crimson red covering his right arm. A silver forehead protector, engraved with the two boulders of Iwa, gleamed on his dark head.

"Your papers, Watanabe Riku," the man rumbled.

Riku mutely handed the packet over.

The man deftly unwrapped the package and flipped through the papers in what seemed like an eternity, even though Ichirou knew it was only, perhaps, a few seconds. The man finally grunted and carelessly rewrapped the bundle, handing it over to Riku. "You may wait inside the post while we draw up your paperwork and find a guide for you."

RIku bowed and Ichirou followed suit, giving Ryou a warning look to mind his manners before he did so. "Thank you, shinobi-san. We are in your debt." When Ichirou looked up from the ground, the shinobi was gone. The only thing that marked his presence was the slight ripple of dirt where he had stood, but even that too faded away after a few minutes.

"Wow," Ryou breathed out shakily.

"Yeah," Ichirou agreed, feeling just as nervous as Ryou looked.

"Shinobi," Riku muttered, shaking his head and handed the oilcloth back to Ichirou. "Pack this safe, cuz."

Ichirou took it back obediently and tucked it back into the satchel, swinging it over his shoulder when he was done. "We can put Jin and the wagon over behind that clump of rocks, they should be safe enough there."

Ryou looked at him, incredulous. "No one's going to steal them?"

"Child, no one's fool enough to steal from an Iwa outpost," Kenichi said, his voice quiet. "Stealing is a serious offense, punishable by death."

"So don't you worry none, baby cuz," Riku said breezily, clapping Ryou's shoulders heartily. "It's real cute when you get all worried though."

"Oh, shut up Riku," Ryou mumbled, the tips of his ears burning a little. "Don't we have to go inside anyway?"

Inside turned out to be a dubious looking cavern in the side of the rock canyon, so gloomy and dank looking that even the sunlight seemed afraid to enter its depths.

"Are you sure about this?" Ichirou asked, raising a dark eyebrow skeptically.

"Just trust me on this," Riku said lightly, but it sounded a little forced to his ears. Holding his breath, Ichirou walked into the dark cave and into light.

It was like passing through a sheet of freezing cold water. He shuddered for one long moment and when he opened his eyes, he had entered an entirely different world. Instead of a dark cave, he had entered the inside of a castle from the storybooks. The walls were lined with gleaming crystal rocks that glowed an eerie luminescent color, giving everything a strange green cast. He looked up and saw strange designs mark the domed ceiling, swirling around massive chunks of glowing rocks. Ichirou couldn't help gripping the strap on his shoulder a little harder.

"Can I help you?"

In front of them, a ninja writing in a fat book looked up from his worktable, his dark face ghoulish in the strange light. Behind him, a huge wall rose up from the ground and all the way up to the domed ceiling, sealing the secrets of the shinobi behind stone that looked to be as thick as a rich man's waist.

"Watanabe Textiles," Riku began but the ninja waved his hand and cut him off.

"Oh yeah, Masashi mentioned you guys. Alright, have a seat, we'll have your papers done soon enough. " He returned back to scribbling in his book and Riku turned around, shrugging a little.

They shuffled towards the benches lining one wall of the cavern. The seats looked like they were grown from the ground and the wall, worn smooth by countless bodies over the years. Ryou swung himself down, Kenichi at his side and Riku at his other. Ichirou remained standing, looking far beyond the ninja at the desk and the huge stone walls that he was guarding.

"Nii-san, what are you-"

Ichirou shrugged a little and the strap slid on his shoulder. "I have to go to the bathroom," he said and the need in him grew so much he knew that if he didn't go to the bathroom now, there was a terrible chance he might just explode from an overly full bladder.

"Jeez, couldn't you have taken care of it outside?" In the strange light, Ryou's look of disgust looked kind of like one of the demon masks they sold at festivals.

"They probably have plumbing," Ichirou pointed out. Running water! Soap! Flushing toilets! Ichirou missed civilization. "Anyway it can't hurt to ask."

"Your neck," Riku said, flicking his dark hair out of his eyes with a toss of his head. "Well, guess I'll just tell Uncle Jiro that Ryou'll be the one inheriting instead."

"Not funny." Ichirou punched Riku's shoulder, probably a little harder than he should have, but the jerk deserved it. He made his way back to the desk, heart thumping in his chest and the opportunity of using a bathroom hovering right behind those stone walls.

"E-excuse me, shinobi-san?"

"What is it?" The man didn't bother to look up from his work.

"Would it be possible, er, if I could use your bathroom?"

The man put down his pen and raised an eyebrow. "You want to use our bathroom."

Ichirou nodded, heart in his throat. "Running water," he croaked. "We've been travelling for weeks and if you would be so kind, shinobi-san..."

The man sighed. "Damned civilians," he muttered and dug through one of the drawers in the desk, fishing out a stained and crumpled looking piece of paper with some beautiful calligraphy on it. _Person where_? Ichirou could barely make heads or tails of the writing on it.

"Bag," the ninja demanded and Ichirou obediently handed over the leather satchel. The ninja opened it up and carelessly rifled through the contents; Ichirou tried not to wince when he saw how rudely the man handled their travel papers and the packet of dried persimmons Mother had packed for the journey.

"Alright, your bag's clean," he grunted. "Now, give me your arm."

Swallowing, Ichirou hesitantly bared his arm and held it over to the shinobi, who slapped the paper onto his skin. It burned like a hot coal and Ichirou gasped, bluish white dots sparking at the edges of his vision.

"Pansy ass," the man grunted. The pain slowly subsided and the characters on the seal were now burned onto his forearm, the edges of the black marks glowing a soft, faint blue.

"You go anywhere you're not supposed to, I'll _know_," the man growled, making the hairs on the back of Ichirou's neck slowly rise.

"Yes sir," he gasped. Suddenly, the prospect of using the bathroom didn't seem as thrilling as before. The man pushed his chair back and stood up, knees audibly popping as he did so. He did something strange with his fingers and suddenly a small door appeared in the wall behind the desk, a doorknob slowly molding itself into shape.

"Straight down the hallway, make a right and it'll be the second door on your left. Straight there and back and if you go anywhere else-" the man jerked his head at Ryou and Riku, who were the conversation watching with wide eyes. "Understand?"

"Yes," Ichirou said and nodded furiously.

"Good." The man settled back down into his chair, picked up his pen and began writing in his mysterious book again. Ichirou quickly swiped his bag off the table and skirted around it, heading for the door in the wall. The doorknob felt cold to the touch. There was no turning back. Ichirou resisted the urge to look back at his brother and opened the door.

* * *

Ichirou looked at the mirror and his pale, dark-haired self stared back, the strap of a dark eyepatch cutting neatly through his slicked back hair. With trembling fingers he raised the patch up and pulled it off his head, setting it down on the edge of the sink with trembling fingers. A scar cut through his left eyelid and a good inch into his cheek. It was cold to the touch. Ichirou opened his left eye and watched as the eye of a demon came to life in his reflection.

"_I am Hatake Kakashi_."

The tomoe of the eye swirled furiously, until the pinwheel of dark blots became a circle of black ringing his pupil. "_Kai_," he whispered and the illusion shattered.

Kakashi staggered towards the toilet and retched violently, falling clumsily onto his knees. For one terrifying moment he had no idea what was up or down and clung helplessly to the toilet bowl, his greased hair sticking to his clammy cheek. The only certainty in his life was the constant wave of nausea wracking his stomach.

In what seemed like an eternity, reality slowly fell back into place, piece by piece. The dry heaves slowly stopped and Kakashi wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, grimacing at the sharp taste of bile. Moving carefully, he reached out for the metal handle and pulled down, flushing away his sick.

He hadn't expected the backlash to hit him quite so hard. Kakashi stood up carefully, letting tiny streams of chakra flood through his limbs and lend him strength to carefully walk over to the sink. He turned on the faucet and splashed his face with deliciously cool water, cupping it in his hands and greedily drinking it in.

The entire week leading up to their stop here, he had worked extensively on his Liar's Palace, building up Watanabe Ichirou in a small corner of his mind- slowly putting together the eldest son of a middling class merchant from a rural village in Lightning Country, protective older brother and heir to a business that had been passed down from father to son for generations. It was standard practice to build and maintain a cover in infiltration missions. But the Sharingan helped him take it a step further and briefly _be_ the cover- the room where he had set aside for Watanabe became his illusory mind and Kakashi had retreated into the far corner of himself, letting the cover play out by itself, only impressing vague suggestions and thoughts onto Ichirou's mind.

With the Sharingan, the Liar's Palace became more than a defense mechanism for a spy and an illusion so complete that he forgot who he was. Needless to say, it was also incredibly dangerous and possibly could labeled as a kinjutsu, if Kakashi ever got around to writing it all down and submitting it to the Hokage for review. Six hours hiding in the Liar's Palace and Kakashi had nearly collapsed in the bathroom, the backlash was so severe.

The sooner they reached Iwa, the better.

Kakashi wiped his face dry with the edge of his rough cotton shirt. Crouching down on the ground, he rummaged through the satchel and pulled out a thin bamboo tube; with a twist of his wrist he uncapped it, revealing several thin writing brushes and a vial of ink. A traveling writing case, suitable for any man on the road.

Kakashi pulled out a hair-thin brush and uncapped the vial of ink, sniffing at the potent mix of blood and chakra infused charcoal ink. Carefully, he dipped the brush and set about adding slight modifications to his forearm seal. The original was slipshod work and it made Kakashi almost ashamed to have it be seen on him. The tiny modifications he was adding released a false tracking signal to the master map the guardsman had inlaid on the desk, fading away into his skin after ten minutes.

More than enough time to get a little intel on Iwa and if he was lucky, their target.

Kakashi summoned strength for a simple genjutsu, one that allowed him to blend into the shadows and wrapped the satchel tightly around his hips, using the strap as a makeshift belt. Quietly, he slipped out of the bathroom and melted away into the darkness.

* * *

"Nii-san, are you alright? You look a little sick."

Ichirou rubbed the back of his neck, slick with styling grease from his hair. "I'm fine, I think it's just the air in here that's getting to me."

Ryou looked up at him with suspicious eyes. "You were in there for an awfully long time, you know."

"Nature's call," Ichirou said, fiddling a little with the strap on his shoulder. "Why are you talking so much anyway? Little children should be seen, not heard."

"Worst older brother-"

"Knock it off you two." Riku sauntered over to the two of them, followed by a battered looking ninja dressed in dark cargo pants, a dirty brown vest and a crimson shirt with a single sleeve, just like the ninja they had met in the rock canyon. "Try and act your ages, we've got important company. This here is Sabu, he'll be our guide to Iwagakure."

Ichirou's back instantly straightened and he bowed deeply, palms in front of his chest like his Mother had taught him. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Sabu-san. Thank you for graciously guiding us to the village." Ryou followed a beat later, his greetings a quiet murmur.

"Yeah, whatever," Sabu said, rolling his dark eyes. "Just keep out my way, no talking, no trying to discover the village's hidden secrets, etcetera etcetera."

"We're only simple merchants," Ichirou smiled. "How could we ever hurt such a strong village of shinobi?"

* * *

"A real featherbed," Riku sighed, sinking onto the mattress and shucking off his sandals. "Bless this village."

Ryou settled on the other side of the bed, trying not to look around everywhere and look like a country bumpkin. The entire building looked like a termite mound (something he had only ever seen pictures of in books), with small round windows and smooth curved walls that made the rooms seem more like burrows than real houses. There were two simple beds, a writing desk made of granite and an old television in the corner of the room.

"Even old man Ikku has a better TV than that," Ryou commented lightly, toeing the smooth floor with the tip of his sandal.

"Iwa might be one of the most powerful shinobi villages, but they don't have too many civilians in their village. They have to import a lot of the stuff that they can't make because they don't have enough people to, like TVs and ramen," Riku said, fluffing up his pillow and settling down on it with a content sigh. "It's expensive, so a lot of stuff they just keep using and reusing until they really need to buy 'em."

"And we're here to take advantage of that," Ryou said slowly, putting together the pieces in his head. "And that's why Father was so excited to have the contract from the village?"

"Uncle Jiro beat out fifteen other cloth merchants," Riku said, a touch smugly. "Iwa has money from doing so many missions and they like to have contracts out with people for years and years, it cuts down the price when they buy in bulk and it fosters good relationships. Uncle Jiro won a five year one on the condition that we travel here every summer."

Ryou remembered the day Father and Jiro came back from their visit to the capital, clattering off the wagon and into the house in a rush of stamping feet and shouts. That night they had fresh tuna and Ichirou had brought back a new book on the seven wonders of Lightning Country; he was already reading it under the table while Father said grace for the sumptuous evening meal.

"We pull this off and we'll be set for life, little Ryou-chan," Riku said, reaching over from his side of the bed to ruffle Ryou's hair. Ryou yelped and tried to fend off the attack but Riku was much bigger and stronger than him, his big arms circling around him. Ryou resigned himself to defeat.

"Hey, Ryou, Riku, can you come over to the bathroom for a second?"

The pressure on his arms lifted and Ryou matched Riku's puzzled expression. Nii-san sounded- a little off, for some reason. He slid off the bed, cousin Riku following him, and made his way over to the bathroom in the far corner of the room, a tiny sliver of light jutting out from the crack of the open door.

"What is it, Nii-san? Are you alright?"

"Just, come in for a second, both of you."

Ichirou's voice sounded different, rougher and much more tense. Had he hurt himself? Ryou swallowed and pushed open the door, half-expecting to see his brother collapsed on the floor in a pool of blood. Instead, he met the eye of a demon, spinning lazily in his brother's face.

"_Kai_," Ichirou whispered and Ryou's entire world fell apart.

* * *

"What the goddamned fucking shit was that?" Genma croaked, wiping his mouth with the back of his sleeve. Kakashi handed him a canteen of water, which he accepted, hand shaking a little.

"Genjutsu backlash," Kakashi said, watching the other man's Adam's apple bob as he greedily drank down the water. Tenzou was sitting on the tiled floor, leaning his head against wooden cabinet underneath the sink, brown hair plastered to his sweaty face.

"Raidou-san?"

"Puking in the bathroom in the other room. I released him while you two were indisposed."

"Indisposed?" Genma shot Kakashi a dirty look, setting down the empty canteen on the edge of the sink with an audible thunk. "Damn near killed me is what it did. The first time we did it, I just felt a little queasy, nothing too bad. This time-" Genma shook his head, strands of hair falling out of the elegant plait hanging down his back. "This time, I thought I was gonna puke all my guts out."

"I warned you all that the full effects haven't been studied, I've never had it hold this long. Seems like the longer it takes, the harder it becomes to pull out your Liar's Palace." Kakashi shrugged, stuffing his hands in his pockets. It was something he'd come up with while practicing with Obito's eye during the end of the war and later developed while mucking around with Mangekyo after Team Seven had split. The longest he'd ever had to use it before was an hour, maybe two, in order to infiltrate castles and mansions on the occasional mission. Never for something this complex and dangerous.

"It got the job done," Tenzou said quietly from his place on the floor, his voice harsh and raspy. "We're in Iwagakure now."

Kakashi hunched his shoulders over and desperately wished that he had a mask back to hide his face. "I'll go check on Raidou," he said and walked out of the bathroom. The door to the adjoining room was only a feet over but it seemed to take an eternity. They were in _Iwa_ now- Kakashi touched Obito's eye which throbbing angrily, sharp spikes of pain lancing through his head.

(The first thing he had ever seen with this eye was Obito's half-crushed face, his eye-socket hollow and bloody.)

Kakashi pulled open the door and met Raidou face to face, the other man's hand reaching out for the doorknob.

"Good timing, chief," Raidou said and Kakashi stepped to the side, letting him pass through the doorway and into the room.

"How're you feeling?"

"Like I got punched by Tsunade after getting caught peepin' on the ladies," Raidou said, shutting the door closed behind him and locking it with a twist of his fingers. "You?"

"Fine," Kakashi said.

Raidou raised an eyebrow but didn't make any comment on Kakashi's health, which he was grudgingly grateful for. "I'll go check on Genma and the rookie, sounds like they didn't have too good of a time of it."

Kakashi cocked an ear, Genma's faint curses floating from behind the closed bathroom door and into the main room. The corner of his mouth tugged up. "Get the two of them here, we're having a meeting in five."

Raidou saluted, two fingers to his temple. "Aye aye, Captain Boss Man," he said. Kakashi nodded back and moved over to the satchel he'd left on the writing desk, digging through it deftly and pulling out the writing case and the packet of persimmons wrapped in oilcloth and stamped with the mark of HANAJIRO GROCERS. He untied it to reveal a bundle of tightly wrapped chakra imbued scrolls.

He unrolled one on the table, uncapped the writing case and opened Obito's eye. (The first man he'd ever killed with it was an Iwa nin.) With swift, even strokes Kakashi drew out the sprawling map imprinted onto his brain, the image flowing down smoothly from his mind, down his arm and onto the scroll. (The last mission Father went on was in Iwa.)

A few seconds later, he closed Obito's eye and looked down at the detailed map sprawled all over the scroll, the bloody-red shimmer of the ink fading away to a normal black. "It nevers gets old, seeing that," Raidou said over Kakashi's shoulder.

"I'm a one-trick pony," Kakashi said and drew a tiny vial of sand from the writing case and sprinkled it lightly over the drying ink. The chakra enhanced sand glowed a bright blue for a brief second and then faded; Kakashi carefully gathered up the scroll and poured the sand back into the vial. "Enjoy the show."

"Sir, are you-" Raidou's breath was hot against the back of neck. Kakashi fought the urge to grab the kunai hidden in the sole of his sandal. "Are you sure you're alright?"

Kakashi was quiet for a long moment. "Not really," he said. "But neither are you."

"Yeah," Raidou breathed out. "Yeah, Danzou knew what he was doing, sending us here."

Three veterans of the Third Shinobi War. Three veterans that had grown up in the shadow of war, taught to hate and fear Iwa. Three veterans who had lost family and friends to Iwagakure. Danzou was very, very clever.

Kakashi rolled up the scroll and turned around, moving the minute Raidou obligingly stepped out of the way. Genma and Tenzou scowled up at him from the floor, huddled in some blankets and sheets they had scrounged out of the linen closet. It looked even sillier considering the fact that they were sitting seiza, knees on the ground, hands clasped on their thighs. Kakashi settled himself down on the floor, cross-legged, and unrolled the map on the ground.

"I managed to look through the files in the outpost and caught a look at some of the maps and files they have there." Kakashi pointed at the section labeled GU WARD with his index finger, right where the Main Street cut it into a neat half. "That's where we are right now."

"Ah, the good old bathroom trick," Genma said with a little forced cheer. "So that's what you were doing at the outpost."

Kakashi started to smile and stopped, caught off-balance by the absence of his face-mask sliding against his skin. Without it, he'd have to be more careful about guarding his emotions. "This here is the Tsuchikage Tower, the armory, the mission control center." Kakashi pointed at the center of the map, all clustered in the section clearly labeled KO WARD. "And here's the main market we're setting up our stall in for the next two weeks." Kakashi pointed at KYU WARD, just a few streets over from the Tower.

"We have four weeks to accomplish our mission," Kakashi said, making eye contact with each member of his team. "The target must be eliminated by that time, since our merchant permits expire at that point."

"Is he even in the village?" Raidou asked, rocking on the balls of his feet next to Genma's huddled form. "We made it all the way here but he could be out of the village on a long-term for all we know."

"Oh, he's here," Kakashi said and smiled thinly. "When I was the outpost, I checked their logs and saw that Gari had been passing by with a team of genin. They were on a quick escort mission from the village to the border, just a few days ago."

"A jounin-sensei? We'll have to make sure the kids don't get in the way," Genma said, fingers wrapped tightly in the edge of a bedsheet. "They'll be loose ends."

Kakashi nodded sharply and tried not to think of his own kids waiting back home. "For the first week, were just going to be collecting intelligence. Set up the stall in the market, make contacts, interact with the locals. Figure out his pattern with his team: where he eats, where he sleeps. This is his home turf, he'll be comfortable here. He's going to make mistakes. We need to capitalize on that."

"No more genjutsu," Tenzou put in quietly, the shadows under his eyes a bruised purple. "We needed it to get here, but no more. We can accomplish the mission without it."

Kakashi considered Tenzou's tiny form across from him, all bundled up in white sheets, nothing but a tiny wisp of a face and big brown eyes. "I'll take it under consideration," he said and ignored how his throat tightened when Tenzou nodded back silently.

"Never thought I'd ever be this close to Iwa after the end of the war," Genma said, tugging at a loose thread in his thick blanket. "Seven years, huh? Seems just like yesterday."

"I don't have to remind everyone that personal motives are not allowed to interfere with the parameters of the mission, do I?" Kakashi asked, looking Genma intently in the eyes.

"Of course not Captain," Raidou said smoothly and thumped Genma's back heartily. "Genma's just being a nostalgic dick."

"Yeah, just old Genma being crotchety at usual. Don't mind me, sir." Genma's smile didn't quite reach his eyes, a strange caricature of his normally easy going expression.

Kakashi took what he could get and ignored the stink of deceit emanating from his subordinates. "I'll take first watch, everyone else get some rest while you can. It's going to be a long month."

* * *

Fugaku shuffled his notes on the budget for the Police Force, giving Aburame an absent nod as the other Clan Head passed by his seat. Danzou was probably going to argue over the operating budget for the Force again, dragging out the most minute details into an agony of discussion so mundane that Fugaku's temples were throbbing already in anticipation. Every week he met with the Council and every week he poured rice wine to honor his ancestors and begged them to strike the old wart with lightning.

There was a quiet rush of scraping chairs as everyone settled into their respective seats, the Hokage at the head of the long rectangular table, flanked by his advisors Koharu and Homura. "We shall now begin the two thousand, five hundred and sixty second session of the meeting of the Great Council of Konohagakure," Hokage-sama intoned solemnly and Fugaku withheld a sigh. And Mikoto wondered why his blood pressure was rising!

The Hokage finished the opening ceremonial words and Fugaku, with a resigned gaze, watched Danzou open his mouth.

"I would like to reintroduce bill 56AB concerning admission to the Academy."

Fugaku drew in a sharp breath, feeling as if someone had just slipped a kunai between his ribs.

"Seconded," Inuzuka said, insolently flashing her fangs at Fugaku.

"Hokage-sama," Fugaku forced out with clenched teeth. "I was under the impression that the bill was blocked."

"As a Councilman, I can re-sponsor a bill to be introduced to the Council," Danzou cut in, his wretched voice a pain to endure. Fugaku drew in another ragged breath and fought the instinctive urge to let his eyes bleed red.

"I was under the impression," Fugaku continued as if he hadn't heard the man speak, "that this bill calls for an unfair admissions policy that discriminates against those with kekkei genkai, specifically- specifically those with doujutsu." _Specifically the Uchiha._

"I too, as well, harbor doubts about the validity of this bill," Hiashi said, his voice a touch stronger than normal. In this, at least, they were united.

"Danzou has legitimate concerns," Kotone, the old bat, said. Legitimate! A piece of paper with dog shit smeared all over it had more legitimacy than him. "How can we forget Setsuna Uchiha's uprising against the Village? Not only were they all highly skilled shinobi but they also focused their attack on the Academy, with the help of the Uchiha studying there."

"Madara was also known for his ability to manipulate the Nine Tailed Fox-"

"The Uchiha have proved themselves to be _innocent_, what more do you-"

"Enough."

In an instant, the room quieted, partly from the strength of the Hokage's voice, but also from his immense aura which blanketed the room like a suffocating fog. Fugaku gripped his armrests and focused on controlling his breathing. In. Out. In. Out.

"We shall table the matter and return to it on another day, when our tempers are cooler and we can discuss it without devolving into petty arguments."

"Yes, Hokage-sama," the room murmured as one.

Fugaku kept his mouth tightly shut.

* * *

"The Clan cannot stand such slights to its honor," Elder Miyamoto said gravely. "Joining with the Village was supposed to have brought us prosperity but all the Village does is accuse us with wrongs we have never committed."

"Uchiha Madara was right," croaked another Elder. "We have become second to the Senju. We, who joined the Senju in creating the first Hidden Village, we who have built this Village into what it is- is this how we are to be treated? Second to the Senju, ostracized and excluded because of our kekkei genkai, because of our power!"

"We must act! We must!" Miyamoto rumbled and was answered by a chorus of agreeing murmurs.

Fugaku heard the rustle of silk at his side and saw Itachi stand up, shaking the wrinkles out of his hakama. "What are you-"

"Elders, fellow clansmen, Father." Itachi bowed deferentially, lower than was expected of the Clan heir. Fugaku felt his heart sink, half-hearing the surprised mutters of the clans members in the room and the elders' harsh whispers.

"You speak of rising against the Village. A coup d'etat-"

"You speak out of place, young one," Miyamoto said, setting his cup of rice wine down on his table with a solid thunk.

"When the Elders' speak of the traitor Uchiha Madara in a positive light, this one grows concerned," Itachi said, his deceptively smooth voice as sharp as a whip. "Your words call for a break with a village, to killing the Senju we have formed a century long covenant with. Have the elders calculated the cost of such talk? Much blood will be shed, with one clan against tens of others, no matter the fact that we have the Sharingan. Konoha is home of the Byakugan, the Inuzuka nose, the Aburame kikkai, the Nara's Shadow Techniques, the Yamanaka's mind control and the Akimichi's body modification techniques, to name just a few. And that is just the lives of the Uchiha who will be lost- what about our honor? Our dignity? Do you truly think that by lashing out against the village, we will gain honor? Dignity? The respect of others?"

Fugaku closed his eyes as the contempt in Itachi's normally soft voice grew, gripping the edges of his cushion, his knuckles whitening.

"No. What the Village will see and what _I_ see is the pathetic attempt of a Clan to prove others wrong by kicking them in the shin. Are we children or are we shinobi who have helped found this village? We can do better than this, we can _be_ better than this. We can rise above these petty means and keep the Village together. We can gain respect through being good people and good ninja and good villagers. Whether we like it or not, we are the people of the Village Hidden in the Leaves."

"Fugaku-sama, I commend you on raising such a naive child," Elder Kakeru said, his dark eyes narrow. "It seems he still hasn't learnt the meaning of strength as a shinobi."

"On the contrary, Elder Kakeru, I think Itachi-kun knows every meaning," Shisui cut in, slamming his hands on his table and rattling the bottle of rice wine. "Just because you're too blinded by power and your own-"

"Enough," Fugaku said and flared his chakra. The room instantly quieted and Itachi and Shisui settled back on their cushions again with mutinous looks. Fugaku restrained the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose; weakness was not allowed.

"We will have a discussion later," Fugaku said quietly to his son and then raised his voice to address the entire room. "I apologize on behalf of my son," he said and bowed. "I will, of course, take all of your advice and counsel to heart and think it over very deeply. Thank you."

With that clear dismissal, Fugaku stood up from his cushion and swept out of the room, feeling every stare pierce his back.

Itachi followed him out of the room, his own small dark shadow fast on his heels. When they were far away enough from the room, he turned around, careful not to raise his voice.

"What were you thinking? You know how the Elders are and they are right in their own way. You dishonor me and your mother by displaying your arrogance and speaking out without a thought for custom or manners. You and Shisui!" Fugaku sighed and rubbed his temples.

"I apologize for causing you pain, Father, but I cannot just stand aside and watch the Clan dig itself its own grave. This is _madness_-"

"Madness is Danzou taking every chance to twist my words and step on the back of the Uchiha. Madness is the Hokage standing by and watching this happen. Madness is when the entire village points its fingers and thinks we killed the Yondaime Hokage and hundreds of shinobi. Madness is when they have locked us away in this village within a village, threatening to keep our children from the Academy. What am I supposed to _do_, Itachi? Stand aside and watch my people suffer?" Fugaku drew in a ragged breath and clenched his right hand into a tight fist, holding it over his heart. "I am trying to make life better for you and Sasuke, so that when you too grow older and take my place, this will all just be a memory in the past. Listen to the elders and their wisdom, Itachi." _Please_.

If Itachi heard his silent plea, he gave no sign of it. Instead, his beloved son, his best and brightest and his heir, bowed. "Yes, Father."

Fugaku wondered why it felt like his own heart heart was breaking.

* * *

"The situation grows dangerous," Danzou mused, his voice echoing in the dank underground air.

"As expected, Hatake has left the country, sir."

Danzou looked down at the kneeling figure below him and tapped his cane of the ground. "Good. As strong as he is, he is predictable. A pity, he could have been as great as Sakumo at his peak. Still, he should have known better than to meddle where he isn't wanted."

"Yes, sir. Reports from the Uchiha compound have also arrived. It seems the situation is accelerating."

"They've always been the impatient sort. Enact Executive Order 56AB, as planned. It's time we dealt with this nuisance to the Village."

"Yes, sir. And about the Heir, should we-?"

Danzou walked over to the spartan wooden desk and chair in the corner of the room, occupied only by a single metal lamp and a manila folder. "I'm told that Hatake is the one to nominate him for service?"

"Yes, sir."

"I have no use for fools like that. After this mission is fulfilled, I have another infiltration mission for you. Iwagakure, this time." Danzou picked up the manila folder on the desk and handed it over to the kneeling figure. "I trust you'll do well, Kabuto?"

"To the best of my ability, Danzou-sama," Kabuto bowed, his glasses gleaming from the lamp light.

"Good. Travel safely."

Danzou turned off the lamplight and the room plunged into darkness.


End file.
